Child of Destiny
by cryptangel2002
Summary: Naruto comes back from the training trip with Jiraiya very changed, beginning with his gender. Watch the newest kunoichi of konoha begin the path that will fulfill the prophecy the toad sage received years ago, and change the world. Fem!naruxFüxMeixSari
1. Homecoming

Disclaimer: I wish I did own Naruto but sadly this is not the case.

* * *

  
The figure landed softly, noiselessly in one of the lower branches of the tree, one of those big, ancient trees that grew in sight of the gates of Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden among the leaves. The ninja, for the grace and fluidity of the very posture and movements left no place for a doubt about the subject; looked at the ninja village with azure eyes sparkling in the light of the afternoon sun that filtered through the treetops, a strange mix of genuine happiness, restless trepidation and baleful dread bubbling inside, rising slowly, until a large, calloused hand landed atop the blue-eyes ninja's head, ruffling blonde hair, while the owner, a tall man with a wild, long mane of white hair held in a ponytail, a red sleeveless coat over gray shirt and shinobi pants, red facial markings running down his face from the eyes and a horned hitai-ate with the kanji for "oil" engraved, said in his usual loud, boisterous voice:

- "Don't worry about it, brat. Just be happy you're home again, no need to get cold feet at the last minute, neh?"

Once upon a time, Uzumaki Naruto, genin ranked ninja of the Konoha village would have jumped screaming and kicking at the smallest insinuation of the kind that Jiraiya of the Sannin was making, but after more than two years of learning and growing in the training trip with the toad sage, Naruto just sighed and answered:

- "I suppose you're right, Ero-sennin. Let's just get this over with."

Jiraiya smirked while his pupil jumped down to the road and began to walk with a determined pace towards the large village gates. He looked at the blue sky and the mid-afternoon sun through the foliage, taking a moment to enjoy the calm that blanketed the world around him, and then jumped down after his student. He guessed that Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage of Konoha would want to see him before long, and the last thing in his to-do list right now was to antagonize the Slug Princess in any way, shape or form. He sighed, resigned, thinking that not even peeking on her during her bath would get the only female member of the Sannin more worked up than the bombshell he was about to drop on her and Konoha. 

* * *

  
Inuzuka Kiba wanted to scream. Scratching the red fang mark in his cheek, the spiky haired second child of the Inuzuka clan head was bored out of his mind, fighting to stay awake and contemplating the fact that the life of a chünin was not what he had pegged it to be. Where were the dangerous super secret missions to be done? Where the powerful ninja to be defeated? Where, the beautiful daimyo daughters to be rescued? Instead of all that fun and excitement, he had gate guard duty. Gate duty! Life definitively could not be more unfair. Well, it actually could, since the alternative to cover Izumo's spot at the gate had been to cover the older chünin in the Hokage's office, and he was not THAT bored of life to risk it in the always dangerous task of waking his village leader out of one of her alcohol-induced naps. No, he'd rather stick with gate duty, thank you very much. If only fate would take pity on him and send his way one of those beautiful daimyo daughters from his dreams who he could then escort to the Hokage, who then would order him to be her shadow and guide while in the village. Yes, she'd do that, and then some foreign ninja would try to kidnap the girl. Powerful ninjas, mind you, so he could show better his power and manliness by easily beating them, and the girl would be so smitten by his prowess and animal magnetism that she would want to be his girlfriend. And then…

Then, his trusty Inuzuka nose pulled him out of his daydreams to inform him that someone was approaching the reception stand, and Kiba opened his eyes and raised his chin from the wooden counter to look at the arriving person and do his work. His thoughts, still lingering in his latest daydream died a quick but painful death when his eyes took in the vision of loveliness in front of him. He did a double take, and with an open, slightly salivating mouth he began to check the newcomer out from the ground up.

First, cute little feet, perfectly decorated with painted toenails and encased in standard issue, black ninja sandals, with a black metallic shin guards. Long, shapely, altogether sexy legs, encased in black, skin-tight pants to the hip, with an orange fringe in the right leg and the left legging replaced with form-fitting fishnet that showed creamy, soft-looking, lightly tanned skin and sported a blue kunai holster strapped to it. The pants hugged delicious, curvy hips and were decorated with a blue belt that sported a metallic buckle with the Konoha symbol and held a tantö blade horizontally over what promised to be a beautiful, firm and round-shaped butt. While a stray thought about how a beautiful kunoichi was better than a beautiful daimyo daughter tried in vain to get through the fog in Kiba's mind, the Inuzuka's eyes continued to take in the sight in front of him. The hips were followed by a bare abdomen, slim and toned, with more of that wonderfully tanned, creamy skin, and then his lucky eyes reached visual heaven. Kiba was not a stranger to feminine beauty by any means; his female teammate, his jönin sensei and even his village leader were all beautiful, well-endowed women, however, he could swear then and there that he had never seen more perfect breasts in his life. Full and round, firm and lovely, the size placed in that perfect spot between generous and impressive, squeezed together by a black and orange, short sleeved shirt with red spirals in the shoulders and a low, v-cut neckline that showcased a fishnet-covered cleavage that would feature in Kiba's dreams for years to come. A quick sideways glance took account of slender, graceful arms, the left one sporting a blue scroll holder and black gauntlets with metal plating protecting delicate looking hands. The visual tour returned to heaven and then continued upwards, finding a pair of cute, short, bushy pigtails, tied from the base of the neck and thrown over her shoulders, and while the Inuzuka's mind finally decided to work to race over possible pick-up lines to be used, first date scenarios and other, definitely more mature and pleasant situations, the chünin took in the sight of silky, lustrous golden blonde hair held off the face by a Konoha headband. Kiba wondered just how he had missed this angel-on-earth for so long and thanked the Kami for gate duty, finally making eye contact to find beautiful, shining sapphire colored orbs under long, sensual eyelashes that looking at him with a knowing, mischievous look, but held no hint of anger or disgust at his blunt, perverted staring. No, she was not angry, in fact he could see past her cute button of a nose, her pouty, full, scarlet pair of lips smiling coyly at him, making her refined, feminine, whisker-marked face look all the more beautiful and endearing, and……..

…………

………………………

Kiba began to feel an uncomfortable sensation bubbling up in his stomach while his hormone-addled brain finally pick-up certain key facts he had missed previously: a preference for orange in the clothing, golden blonde hair, vibrant blue eyes, three whisker marks per cheek……. And then her coy smile turned into a foxy grin he knew too well, complete with shut eyes and victory hand sign. With Kiba's dawning understanding grew both the horror at the thoughts he'd had just a moment ago and the sickness in his stomach, and then she crossed her arms, doing wonderful things for her already memorable cleavage and causing havoc to his crumbling composure. And finally, the last nail in the coffin: the girl's voice, soft and feminine, yet vaguely familiar, said with too much sweetness and barely contained laughter:

-"See something you like, dogbreath?"-

The nickname cemented her just discovered identity, along with the horror of what he had just thought of doing to her, or rather to him, and Inuzuka Kiba turned a sickly shade of green and jumped over the reception stand's counter, running like a possessed towards the nearest alley, where during the next few minutes he proceeded to get re-acquaintanced with the breakfasts his big sister used to put in his bento box back in his old academy days.

When Kiba turned green, Uzumaki Naruto finally released the laughter that was threatening to burst through her composed façade, and when he ran to the alley, presumably to throw up, she leaned on the counter in full, eye-tearing peals of laughter. Then she got her breathing back under control, and turner her attention to the other occupant of the reception stand, who had remained utterly composed and calm through the whole ordeal, although you could see he was quite amused at his best friend antics, if you knew where to look. The blonde kunoichi smiled at him, and waved, saying:

-"Hello there, Shino-kun. It's good to see you again"-

-"Hello to you too, Naruto-san. Welcome back to the village…"- the composed Aburame heir said, in his trademark monotonous voice, shifted his stance slightly to look at the gate's side of the stand and added:

-"…and welcome back to you too, Jiraiya-sama"-

The legendary Konoha ninja, Jiraiya of the Sannin didn't answered, but acknowledged the greeting with a nod of the head, and kept walking at his leisure, while Naruto crouched to scratch Akamaru's ears. The large white furred ninken whimpered softly with satisfaction at the attention, and Naruto took the time to pull a cloth-covered package from the small traveling bag she carried. It turned out to be a rather big meat piece, the hind leg of a recently hunted piglet, which Akamaru began to eat without a second thought. Naruto then stood again, and sensing the imminent return of a pissed off Kiba, chuckled again, and said to Shino:

-"See you around, Shino-kun. I got to go report to Baa-chan's office, and hit her with my two-and-a-half year's mission report. I bet she'll love the paperwork"-

She grinned, and jumped across the street, following the path Jiraiya had used before to head to the Hokage's tower. Not ten seconds after that, a very angry and very pale Inuzuka Kiba burst off the alley he had went into, screaming bloody murder and looking everywhere for a certain blonde prankster in dire need of a beating. Instead, he found his companion ninken eating what seemed to be a meaty bribe, and his ninja teammate calmly putting down the identities of the arrived ninjas in the logbook.

-"Where is he! I'm gonna beat the crap outta that joking bastard! Akamaru, hurry up and help me track him down!"-

The dog only made a noise with it's throat that could be interpreted as "I'm busy" and kept chewing the piglet bone, the meat long gone by now. Kiba winded down at that reply, and resigned to return to his post. He knew he could not just go off chasing down Naruto without a severe reprimand from the Hokage, gate duty could be boring as all hell but it was important, and a reprimand from the Hokage could very well represent several days in the hospital. But he would get his revenge, oh yes, he would...

Kiba lost himself in another kind of daydreams than before, and Shino sighed loudly for his standards in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. His teammates were like family to the kikaichü bug user, but there were times when even he wondered how he managed to put up with their antics. He briefly wondered why Naruto had went on with his transformation after playing his joke on Kiba, but quickly deduced that there were bound to be more victims of that joke today, and soon his mind was in deep analysis of his last training session with his father. 

* * *

  
After Naruto fled the scene leaving an infuriated Inuzuka ninja behind, she catch up with her sensei, and landed next to Jiraiya. Both of them walked to the Hokage tower in silence, since Jiraiya was reviewing in his mind all possible arguments he could wield in his favor to avoid the beating his gut told him he was going to get after this meeting, while Naruto was taking the sights of her hometown after being away for a little more than 30 months. She noticed that little had changed in the way of buildings; that clothing store managed by the old lady was still in the corner of the street that leads to Ichiraku's ramen, the dango stand a little way ahead, the market covering a whole section of the main street. What had changed, in Naruto's opinion, was the fact that people were reacting different to her than they did during her childhood.

Her mood grew somber, remembering the mistreatment she had suffered all her life, and guessed that the lack of hurtful, dirty looks and rude gestures, and the occasional smile and greeting nod were simply originated in the fact that nobody was connecting her female self with the **male** "demon child" they were used to hate. Word would run quickly and the hate would return soon enough, she guessed, but there was nothing she could do about it. It was not that she could not deal with that, either, it was just that after spending more than two years surrounded with people that sincerely appreciated her and treated her with respect, and even admiration, it was hard to get back in the mind frame required to ignore the offensive behavior of those villagers that knew of her burden and resented her for it.

So deep in her musings she was, she didn't noticed the dashing figure in course of collision with her, and not even well honed ninja instincts prevented the two figures from crashing with one another. Naruto lost the air on her lungs for a moment, and landed on her rear, the running boy in his knees in front of her. The boy, a Konoha ninja by his headband, quickly regained his foot and bowed quickly before offering a hand to Naruto.

-"I'm sorry, ma'am. Really, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there, and I'm in a hurry, and…."-

At this point, Naruto took his offered hand to stand up, and said while dusting herself off:

-"Really, Konohamaru. You need to see where you're going. What if I had dropped a precious bowl of ramen or ten, eh?"-

That cut Konohamaru's apologizing tirade, and he focused in the girl in front of him. Something familiar rang a bell in the back of his mind, and after few seconds he made the connection; between the whiskered cheeks and the blonde hair there were not many options anyway. He opened his eyes with surprise, and a grin of happiness adorned his face; he pointed to the smiling girl in black and orange and exclaimed:

-"Naruto-nii-san! You're back!"-

-"Of course I am. And I see you're already a Konoha ninja like me, eh?"- said Naruto pointing at his headband

-"You bet I am. Udon, Moegi and I graduate from the academy with no trouble at all. We're now in the same genin team under Ebisu sensei"-

-"The closet pervert? At least he does teach some cool jutsu to you guys, doesn't he?"-

-"Not enough, but I've made improvements in the Oiroke no Jutsu you taught me, nii-san. Want to see them?"-

Naruto laughed, and said to Konohamaru: -"Sure, but weren't you in a hurry somewhere in the first place?"-

Konohamaru jumped; suddenly remembering what was that had him running around the streets of Konoha in the first place. -"Aggh! Moegi is going to kill me if I'm late! Let's hang out later, then, and I'll show you my new techniques, ok, nii-san?"-

Naruto nodded, and Konohamaru took off at a dead run again, waving to Naruto as he went away. Naruto chuckled a bit at her little friend antics. No, not little anymore, she thought. He was a full-fledged Konoha ninja now, just like her, even if he was a rookie genin. She trotted a little, catching up to Jiraiya again, and after a couple of blocks of walking, she said to Jiraiya.

-"It is weird. I would have thought that Konohamaru of all people would have commented on my gender"-

Jiraiya answered: -"Maybe they think you're just playing with that jutsu of yours"-

-"Yeah, I suppose they would expect that of me. I guess the joke will be on them tomorrow evening, right, Ero-sennin?"-

Jiraiya blistered a little at the nickname, but didn't comment on that; he had given up on weeding it out of Naruto's vocabulary a long time ago.

-"You're sure you want to go through with that plan, after all?"-

-"I sure do. My friends don't deserve me lying to them, Ero-sennin. Besides, it will tell me just where I'm standing. I'm going to need to know in whom I can count, and you know it"-

Jiraiya sighed again. He did that a lot around Naruto, of late.

-"Ok, brat. Let's go report to Tsunade, and if we survive until tomorrow, you go ahead with that plan of yours. Provided Tsunade-hime authorizes you, of course"-

That said, both Konoha ninja hurried the last few hundred feet until the Hokage tower, the center of operations of the shinobi population in the village, and entered.

* * *

Senju Tsunade, Godaime Hokage of Konoha and only female member of the Sannin was arguably the most skilled kunoichi to have lived and the foremost expert medic-nin in the world.  
Beautiful as well as powerful, the woman was a force to be reckoned with, one enemy that would make anyone tremble at the thought of facing her indescribable physical strength and battle prowess. It was said that the legendary kunoichi feared no foe, and since she had ridden of her trauma-induced hematophobia several years ago, that was mostly true. There was one enemy, however, that filled her with dread, and had her looking for the nearest escape route. She had no compulsions in admitting her weakness; it was no secret in the village that her equally legendary sensei, the late Sandaime Hokage of Konoha and nicknamed "the god of shinobi" admitted freely his fear of this devilish enemy.

Paperwork. It seemed to be the bane of all Hokage, the most powerful of Konoha ninja, and yet defenseless as kittens when confronted with this horrible enemy. Tsunade mussed about this irony of fate, while she reviewed and signed another document of the batch of paperwork her second apprentice, Haruno Sakura held in her hands. Her first apprentice, Shizune, was out of the office, most likely fishing some more dreadful paperwork from wherever hellish place it spawned from.

Kami, but she would kill to find a bottle of good sake in her desktop instead of the ever-growing pile of documentation. Or maybe two bottles. But what if she got visitors? She'd need more bottles, maybe another two. But then they would begin to chat, and then that quantity of liquid ambrosia would not be enough. No, it would be better if it were ten bottles even. Or maybe a whole barrel? Surely it was not too much sake, right? What a foolish notion, too much sake. Bah, a barrel would only get her started, she mussed, and then a sudden sound spooked her:

-"Tsunade-sama!"-

Tsunade returned from her fantasy world and glared at the just arrived Shizune. The dark-haired woman stood in front of her with tsunade's pet pig, tonton, hugged against her chest, and a stern look in her fair face.

-"Tsunade-sama, do you realize you were scribbling nonsense in that requisition form?"-

Shizune said and pointed at Tsunade's desktop, where a document was filled with small, doodle-like drawings of sake bottles and math operations of how much sake was good enough for a night. Tsunade had the decency to look appalled, and put the form back in the pile of pending work, intending to rework it from scratch. She folded her ink-stained fingers with as much composure as she could manage, and said to her first apprentice and surrogate daughter:

-"Well, what were you telling me?"-

-"I was telling you th-…."-

Shizune was in mid-sentence when the door burst open, a well-placed kick making it shake in it's hinges, and a blonde girl with two pigtails much like Tsunade's own, albeit considerably shorter entered with a hand making the peace sign, and grinning from ear to ear, she said loudly, almost to the point of shouting:

-"Hello there, Baa-chan! Did you miss me?"-

Both the Godaime Hokage and her second apprentice stood there, stunned, while Jiraiya walked calmly after his student into the office and Shizune stood there, with a smug look on her face.

-"I was telling you that Jiraiya-sama and Naruto-kun have just arrived from their training trip, and that if you'd want to see them. A moot question, now…"-

Shizune shrugged, and quietly took her place to the left of her leader, smiling pleasantly to Naruto, who just stood there next to Jiraiya waiting for Tsunade's brain to catch up.

Said kunoichi quickly recovered, her eyes widening slightly as she finally recognized her favorite blonde gaki, and keeping with her image as stern village leader, stood, slammed her hands against her wooden desktop, which cracked in protest, and screamed:

-"Brat! Don't just come into my office screaming like that! Much that I'm glad to see you again, you need to respect me!"-

-"Oi, baa-chan, you're screaming way louder than me"-

Naruto mumbled, using her pinky finger to try and get rid of the ringing in her ear product of the Hokage's potent lungs.

For Haruno Sakura, the first time Shizune announced Uzumaki Naruto's return along with Jiraiya of the Sannin, her world stopped for a second, while her mind cooped with the idea. She had known her teammate was coming back sometime during the month, if everything had gone as scheduled, but the fact of having him already there, in the same building, took a little to register in her mind. She was finally going to see one of her teammates again! She had been training with diligence during these two and a half years, always with the goal of meet with Naruto again so they could go and save their wayward third teammate, Uchiha Sasuke, from the clutches of the vile missing-nin, Orochimaru. She felt herself swell a little with pride, she had trained hard and was sure she was not going to be a hindrance to her team anymore, she was going to save Sasuke this time, and help Naruto fulfill their promise of a lifetime!

An ear-splitting smile spread on her face, and she subconsciously pushed a pink strand of hair behind her ear in a nervous gesture when the door exploded open and the voice of her friend, somewhat different but still recognizable, interrupted Shizune-sempai as she tried to get Tsunade-shishou's attention. And then, all her trepidation at seeing her long missed teammate again, and see just how much he had grown and matured went out by the window, replaced by an irrational rage at his antics, for in front of her was not the now handsome (hopefully) blonde man she was expecting, but a cute, rather petite and well endowed blonde girl, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

Inner Sakura called for blood, and the real Sakura agreed wholeheartedly this time. The gall of the idiot! Not two steps within the village and the blonde fool was already playing stupid, ridiculous pranks with that perverted jutsu of his! It was so much for her expectations of Naruto maturing during his training trip. He was probably the same loudmouthed, obnoxious idiot that used to pester her with date invitations all the time.

Then, after Tsunade's outburst against Naruto, Sakura marched towards Naruto who had just turned to look at her with a smile and a wave of the hand and bonked him in the head, hard enough for Naruto to flip around and land face first on the floor. For good measure, she yelled after the hit:

-"Naruto, you baka! Stop playing with that perverted henge of yours and treat Tsunade-sama with respect! She is the Hokage, you idiot!"-

Naruto stood slowly, still very much a female, and Sakura's next words about how hoping for him to mature were too much to expect stuck on her throat. Naruto's henge had not dispelled! The henge no jutsu, or transformation technique, allowed a ninja to take the shape and appearance of any person or object, real or imaginary that the user's mind could conjure with enough detail, and established a delicate chakra matrix around the user to fool the witnesses' senses. But any kind of sudden contact could disrupt the chakra matrix, not to mention the concentration of the user, since her "contact" had been a rather heavy handed punch, even by her considerably rough standards.

Sakura's anger was forgotten for a moment as curiosity about the super resilient henge replaced it, while Naruto nursed her head, and took a precaution step towards the nearest exit, the door, before saying:

-"You know, Sakura, I don't know what is giving me the headache, if the hit or the yell. I was going to say that I had missed you, but I think I'm going to rethink that."-

It is curious how the human mind sometimes decides to go completely off track and focus in the things one least expects. Instead of getting doubly angry at the uncommon retort to her, in her mind, well deserved aggression, the pink-haired kunoichi's mind froze on the spot after noticing that her teammate and admirer of years had left the affectionate "chan" suffix out of her name. A cold wind brushed her soul as she noticed that she actually missed Naruto calling her "Sakura-chan". She, for the first time since knowing Naruto and rejecting his constant advances, found that having Naruto calling her "Sakura-chan" and trying everything for her attention actually flattered her deep down, and made her feel special. And now, not ten seconds from seeing him again after so long, he had called her just "Sakura" and that little, one-time-so-far break from routine had her dreading she would lose him.

Before Sakura could stop and consider the implications of her last thought, she opened her mouth to try an apology, but Naruto had already moved to the Hokage's desk and slammed a thick stack of papers on it. Everybody but Jiraiya blinked at the sight of the heavy manuscript, until Naruto said:

-"This, Baa-chan, is my report of the training mission. I'll tell you the whole thing myself, if you rather not read this…"-

Tsunade rolled her eyes in a sarcastic manner, telling Naruto that she would forsake gambling forever rather than pick the written option.

-"… but you must know that there are some things in the report that are classified"-

Naruto ended that phrase by patting discretely her navel in a meaningful manner. Tsunade picked the subtle warning and turned to look at her apprentices.

-"Shizune, Sakura, you may take the rest of the afternoon off. This is going to take a while."-

-"Erm, baa-chan. You may want Shizune-nee-chan to stay. You may want a second medical opinion."-

Naruto said with an apologetic look to Shizune, thinking that maybe she wanted her prospective early break from work. Instead, Shizune smiled brightly and said:

-"I'd like to stay, Tsunade-sama"-

The blonde Hokage nodded, and before Sakura could say that she too was interested in hearing about Naruto's travel, or yell at him for not considering her for a second opinion, never mind that Naruto had no reason to be aware of her degree of skill as a medic-nin, Tsunade told her:

-"I'll see you tomorrow as we agreed, Sakura. Go and rest. You'll talk to Naruto then"-

With what amounted to a direct order from her Hokage, the pink haired medic-nin bowed to Tsunade and quietly left the room, closing the rattled door behind her. Her confusion at her strange interaction with a normally predictable Naruto and her own reaction at the lack of "chan" suffix in her name would remain in her mind, and the night of sleep she got that day did nothing to help her make sense of it all.

* * *

Haruno Sakura, pink haired jönin level kunoichi of Konohagakure was using the ninja express route, the rooftops of the village buildings to travel towards the poor district of the village, the section where the people with fewer resources lived, where you could still see faint evidence of the last large scale attack the village had suffered, almost three years ago. Naruto lived in this part of town, and she wanted to have a word with her recently returned teammate.

This morning, after a night of restless sleep, she had awoken to find that a written invitation had been delivered to her house, by who her mother called "a cute, polite blonde girl in a sundress and a hat". Naruto using his so-called Oiroke no Jutsu to run around town made no sense, the blonde boy had always been starved for attention, so passing unnoticed as someone else was not something he'd do, and the invitation itself made no sense either. It was written in a decent calligraphy, not his usual childlike doodles, and announced that "Haruno Sakura was invited to the evening outdoors meal that Uzumaki Naruto was hosting in the lookout of the Hokage Monument". It even indicated that it was an informal gathering, so they could dress accordingly.

Since when Naruto hosted parties, informal or otherwise! And delivered invitations! She had not shown the contents of the invitation to anyone yet, since she wanted to know what Naruto was playing at in the first place; if it was another of his crazy schemes to get her to go on a date with him, she was going to clobber him right through the nearest wall she could find.

Fortunately for Naruto, Sakura had not much time to get worked up during her trip, the ninja express really was express, and when she landed in the roof of his apartment building, she was still calm enough to let him explain himself. Maybe. But putting that aside, Sakura jumped down gracefully unto Naruto's balcony.

It was pretty common in Konoha for houses to have doors in the upper floors and balconies in the windows, since it allowed the ninja population faster access to their homes. Sakura intended to just push open his window and let herself in, but she found the window already open and a potted plant sitting in the corner catching the morning sun, the dark soil proof that it had just been watered. Sakura heard a soft voice coming from the inside, the same Naruto-but-not-the-same voice of yesterday, and it was humming a tune. Sakura entered the house, and the mouth she opened to demand him explaining the ridiculous invitation stuck open at the sight she found.

There was Naruto, still using that female form of yesterday, pigtails and all; humming the tune she had heard, using a cleaning rag to clean the dust off his scarce furniture. But the things that made her swallow her words were the clothes that Naruto was using: a pink handkerchief tied over the hair, a light green short sleeved blouse under a pink apron, complete with frilled borders and a knee-length skirt in a darker shade of green. A pink apron! And a skirt! Without turning to look or stopping the cleaning, Naruto stopped humming and said:

-"Good morning, Sakura-chan. What can I do for you?"-

Haruno Sakura was at a loss. What was happening with Naruto? At first, she had thought that his female appearance in the Hokage office had been one of his tasteless jokes, but here he was, in his own house at the early hours of the morning, without anyone that could be the target of the so-called joke, and the female appearance remained; the return of the "chan" suffix to her name didn't even registered at the moment, or the deeply hidden feeling of relief that came with it. Then, Naruto looked at her and gave her a welcoming smile before moving to fetch a broom. Naruto glided more than walked to get the broom and then began to sweep the floor, humming again, giving Sakura her time to speak up, since she just stood there looking at Naruto with wide eyes.

Sakura's patience with Naruto was nothing to write home about and normally she would have already planted his head in the floor or the wall with her fist, but there was something in the scene that was keeping her explosive anger in check. Sakura was an intelligent young woman, and there was something that was tugging at her mind with the whole, surrealistic scene developing in front of her. It was no normal prank of his, however skilled he was in the area; there was something more, something…

The oddness hit Sakura like a sack of potatoes: it was the femininity of it all! Naruto was behaving like a, well, like a girl! It was like watching her mom doing the house cleaning on the weekends, completely in her element, with the sureness given by long hours of experience, like an old fighter in the battlefield. Sakura could not find anything to say, it was just too weird and she was just about to fall back in her usual reaction to Naruto's pranks, namely an overhand right to his head, when another Naruto in blouse, skirt and pink apron appeared from the doorway of the tiny kitchen and said:

-"Hey, Sakura-chan. Will you be staying for breakfast? I managed to scrap together some rice balls and miso soup. It is not half bad, considering I had to use road rations. Still need to refill the fridge"-

Sakura's eyebrow ticked in annoyance. Two girly Narutos! Two girly and polite Narutos! She exhaled heavily; it was just too bizarre to be angry about. Instead, she answered the second Naruto's question:

-"No, thanks, I already ate. So, which one of you is the real you? I need to have a word with Naruto right now"-

Cook Naruto just nodded and returned to the kitchen, while housekeeper Naruto answered:

-"Neither. I can talk with you if you want, but if you want the original, you'll have to wait a little. Mistress is taking a shower right now."-

Sakura took a deep breath, nodded and went to the balcony to catch a breath of air and calm down a little. Mistress? Wasn't Naruto taking this girl prank too far already? It turned out to be a short wait, since barely two minutes after that, a third Naruto came out of the small bedroom drying her hair (yes, this one had a female shape too) with a white, fluffy towel, and the same black-and-orange ninja outfit she was using yesterday. This Naruto waved to Sakura and went into the kitchen, and Sakura went after her.

Cook Naruto was finishing to serve bath Naruto her breakfast, and with a thank you and a hearty Itadakimasu, bath Naruto began to eat. She motioned for Sakura to sit in the only other chair in the house, but Sakura remained standing, and irritated by the weirdness of it all, slammed the invitation on the table, making the dishes jump slightly.

-"What is this, Naruto?"-

-"Well, Sakura-chan, it is an invitation."- Naruto answered after passing down a mouthful of rice, and continued eating.

-"Don't fool with me, Naruto. What I mean is what the meaning of this is? Evening outdoors meal? Since when do you host an evening outdoors meal? And quit it with the girl prank already! It's grating on my nerves!"-

Naruto stopped her eating and placed her chopsticks next to her plate; then, she turned to look fully at Sakura and with unusual seriousness replied:

-"An evening outdoors meal is akin to a picnic, but a little more formal and for more people. And I do host that kind of gathering since today, apparently. And if you're so bothered by my appearance, why don't you dispel it? You've always had a knack for genjutsu, am I wrong?"-

Sakura's temper went a little bit more into the red at the, in her opinion, sarcastic answer, so with one hand she reached to touch Naruto's shoulder, and with the other formed a hand seal to concentrate her chakra, and with a shout of "kai!" flowed her chakra into Naruto, a sure way to disrupt the delicate chakra matrix that held the henge no jutsu together. The little smirk ready to form in her face was crushed by a open mouthed, shocked face, as Naruto's female form remained unchanged, it didn't even flickered a little. That was just not possible! No transformation technique could withstand a direct dispelling like that; otherwise it would have been used years ago to infiltrate enemy villages by everyone that knew of it! This person in front of her really was a girl! So she couldn't be Naruto!

With that thought finally getting through her shocked brain, Sakura realized just in which situation she was in. There were at least three unknown, possible hostile girls in the house with her, and at least one of them was in the room she was giving her back to. Sakura's whole body tensed, her hand retreating quickly from "Naruto's" shoulder, and she backed against the wall, ready to fight this stranger pretending to be her teammate. But instead of being attacked by the just discovered imposter, she cleaned her mouth with a napkin, thanked again the supposed clone that was washing the dishes and stood calmly, saying to Sakura:

-"Right now I have an appointment with baa-chan in the training ground 7. You may come, if you want"-

Naruto, for Sakura had no other name to refer to this girl in front of her, walked past her to the balcony, and jumped to the nearest rooftop. Sakura quickly decided to keep her eye on the imposter; if she was going to see Tsunade-shishou, then Sakura could simply point her out as the fake she was and get her detained by ANBU on the spot.

True to her word, the blonde girl sped towards the training ground 7 as if she knew the route by heart. It made sense that Naruto would know the route, since it was the gathering place of team 7 back when the team had been formed, but how the imposter had obtained that knowledge had yet to be explained. It was entirely possible that Naruto had been captured while in the training trip, and the information extracted through torture. That thought put a lead weight in Sakura's stomach; however obnoxious, Naruto still was her teammate and friend, and imagining him in a dark cell, tortured to death for his knowledge of Konoha did not sit well with her. That was unlikely, however, since if they had captured Naruto and got enough information to train an imposter, how come they could not send a boy to pass for him? It made no sense that they would send a girl that behaved so differently from the normal Naruto that it would stand out like a bonfire in a starless night. And it was even more unlikely that such an imposter would deceive Jiraiya-sama. However pervert the man was, as her shishou claimed, he still was one of the Sannin, a kage-level ninja in his own right. The whole thing made no sense at all, the whole capture-and-replacement scenario was as ridiculous as the super-unbreakable-henge theory. Nevertheless, Sakura fully intended to keep the girl well within her sights until she could alert Tsunade-shishou, since she surely was a risk to Konoha's security.

They arrived quickly to the training grounds, to find Tsunade, Shizune, Jiraiya and the little piglet, tonton, already there. Naruto landed softly in front of the gathered ninjas, and said cheerfully:

-"Good morning, baa-chan, Shizune-nee-chan, Ero-sennin."-

The piglet jumped to her arms and Naruto catch it in a hug, and added:

-"Yes, good morning to you too, tonton-chan"-

Sakura landed next to the fake Naruto, and was just about to speak when a poof of smoke to her right announced the arrival of another person to the scene. Standing there was, dressed in navy blue standard shinobi attire, Konoha jönin vest, blue mask covering his lower face, headband stylishly lowered over his left eye and silver, spiky, gravity-defying hairdo, none other than Hatake Kakashi, her jönin sensei of the old team 7, and elite jönin of Konohagakure.

-"I'm glad you received my message, Kakashi."-

Tsunade said with a smirk at the newly arrived shinobi, who sweatdropped in a comical fashion and replied:

-"Good morning, everyone. You know, Hokage-sama, threatening to burn one item of my collection for each minute of tardiness was a bit over the top."-

For a second, Sakura forgot her worries and giggled at her sensei predicament. It served the lazy bum right for all those team meetings where he arrived four hours late. Then Sakura remembered what she came to do, and before anyone could interrupt her any further, she said:

-"Tsunade-shishou, this Naruto is an imposter. She is a girl!"-

All the while pointing accusingly at the blonde female, who just sighed and hung her head. Tsunade looked at her second apprentice and smiled lightly. It seemed that the girl had not forgotten her lessons about being alert at all times, even if this was a rather out of the ordinary situation. Then, she said:

-"Thank you Sakura, but I am aware she is a girl. And let me assure you, she IS Uzumaki Naruto, the same blonde brat that you remember"-

Before Sakura could protest, Tsunade continued:

-"Do not worry, Sakura, everything will be explained to your satisfaction this afternoon at the gathering"-

Sakura was left speechless. Her brain refused to make sense of it. Had her shishou, the most renowned medic-nin alive just told her that her male teammate was now her female teammate? Did that even make sense at all? She had noticed Kakashi had only blinked twice at that declaration, and then shrugged nonchalantly, seemingly accepting tsunade's declaration at face value; either that or trusting a logical explanation would be provided later. Before she could say something else, Naruto was already greeting Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade was in the process of explaining that the following was an exercise to evaluate Naruto's general level of skill as a shinobi. That they would stage a redo of the bell test, one where Kakashi as the sensei would hold onto a single bell, and Naruto had to retrieve it by any means at her disposal before midday, with the only limitation that neither of them was allowed to leave the training ground limits. Then Kakashi said to Naruto that he was expecting her to give her all, and that he would not read his smut novel this time. Naruto only answered she had a surprise for Kakashi for after the test, and moved with him to the center of the clearing. Sakura just stared after them, forgetting completely that Tsunade had told her a couple of weeks ago that when Naruto returned, both of them would redo the bell test to gauge their progress as a team; right now she was in a mild state of shock and could not care less about being left out of the planned test.

* * *

Hello there. This is my first fanfiction ever, so I'll ask for forgiveness for the mistakes that may appear all around the place. The story has been bugging me for a while now, and since I began to write it to get it out of my head, I decided I may as well put it up here. Credits go to my youngest brother who has helped me brainstorm stuff for the story, to the guys at the Narutopedia (Naruto dot wikia dot com slash wiki slash Narutopedia) who keep the information about the series up to date and where I checked out jutsu names and stuff and to all the excellent authors in this site that have written many good stories about Naruto. Of course, to Kishimoto too who came up with the Naruto world in the first place, even if I don't like the way he has took his story for a while now. But hey, that is what fanfictions are for, to go your own way if you feel like it, yes?

If anyone wants to know, no, I won't be able to update regularly. I write when I can, which is not often, and so I cannot promise a schedule =(

Most of the stuff that happens in the series up to the time Naruto and Jiraiya leave for the training trip will remain as canon; the stuff that gets changed will be indicated appropriately. The trip itself and everything after it is being completely thrown off the window in favor of my story, so don't be surprised when stuff begins to go out of whack. Prime example is Naruto's gender, but be ready for changed identities (I'm looking at you, Tobi), personalities and whatever I decide to roll with. All I promise is that I'll do my best to keep consistency through the whole thing.

The jutsu written in Japanese are directly from the series and were consulted in the Narutopedia. The stuff I come up with will most likely be in English since I don't know jack about Japanese and while I'll try to translate it whenever possible, I'd rather not mangle the poor language too much. Whatever jutsu I come up with, I'll try to explain it at the end of the chapter, too. Ah, and it got rated M because I know myself, and sooner or later this is going to go down the gutter, where my mind usually is, so better safe than sorry. =P

So, with that being said, I'll see you all next chapter. Waaaaa!

**Oiroke no Jutsu**: Sexy Technique


	2. Truths

Disclaimer: I wish I did own Naruto but sadly this is not the case.

* * *

Training ground 7 was one of the most versatile training areas in Konoha; it had a sizeable clearing, several acres of densely forested area and even a rather deep stream with a small waterfall and a small lake, besides a terrain of tightly packed soil but few rocks, optimal for trying out new Doton ninjutsu. All in all, it offered plenty of options for the ninjas that wanted to try something new, or refine their already learned skills under new situations, primary reason Kakashi had chosen the training area to host his team's training schedule. This day, however, it would serve well as a testing ground for Uzumaki Naruto, so the Hokage could survey the result of the training trip with her fellow Sannin.

Naruto stretched a bit, loosening her muscles in preparation for the fight, while Kakashi waited for her and jingled the bell tied to his belt a little. Once both shinobi were ready, Tsunade gave the order to begin. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto moved an inch, and that prompted Kakashi to raise his eyebrow in wonder. Three years ago, during this same test, Naruto had run towards him in a vain attempt to snatch the bell with pure taijutsu, and he had to admit he was not expecting Naruto to be much more patient now. It was one of those patterns of conduct that seemed to be a core part of Naruto's personality.

-"So, Naruto, I see you learned some patience during your trip with Jiraiya-sama. It is good to see his training didn't go to waste"-

Naruto's only answer was to move into a loose battle stance, hands half raised in front of her, legs slightly bent and a little spread and upper body slightly hunched over. In Kakashi's expert opinion it looked well balanced, if a bit improvised, the kind of stance a street fighter achieves after years of first-hand combat experience and no formal training. Naruto told Kakashi:

-"So, sensei, what will be first? Taijutsu?"-

Kakashi took his own stance and smiled under his mask.

-"Sure thing, we'll have plenty of time for genjutsu and ninjutsu later on"-

Naruto nodded once, and then literally exploded into motion, charging the jönin in a head-on movement, almost the same as that other time three years ago. Kakashi frowned a little, thinking that Naruto would have learned a little more complex attack pattern during the training trip, when one of the most impressive things he had seen his student ever do happened: Naruto literally jumped in five different directions, AT THE SAME TIME. Kakashi stood still a fraction of a second, mouth agape. Even without his sharingan he could tell there were no handsigns involved, no muscles tensing in preparation, no tell-tale smoke wisps at all to point at the performing of the **kage bunshin no jutsu**, in fact he was sure that nothing short of a doujutsu like the byakugan, that saw the chakra being molded directly, could warn the victim of the jutsu's execution, besides the obvious fact that one step there was one Naruto there and the next five different enemies were surrounding him.

The surprise at such flawless jutsu execution was so great that Kakashi got connected by a solid straight right that tagged him in the chest, before his experience and reflexes kicked in and allowed him to jump after the second and third clone's attacks, avoiding cleanly the fourth clone with a midair spin, but having to cover from the roundhouse kick of the last clone with his forearm, the bone-jarring impact made him clench his teeth and threw him a good 30 feet away from the melee.

Kakashi shook his arm a little to check for injuries; he had not expected such strength from the petite female body. Quickly realizing the mistake of further underestimating his opponent, he uncovered his sharingan eye, memento from his deceased teammate Obito, to keep track of the five Narutos that were already approaching in a swirling attack pattern, trying to get one of them in his blind spot. Kakashi just waited for them to close in, and then launched his counterattack, rushing one of the clones and throwing a lightning fast combination of punches, intent into cutting short the numerical advantage as soon as possible. The attacked Naruto reacted much faster than expected and managed to duck and weave out of most of the attacks, covering the last few with her arms, except for the last one that slipped past her defense; but before Kakashi was able to capitalize in this, two other clones were already upon him, forcing him to retreat. Kakashi noted that the Naruto he attacked didn't dispel and he thought that he had gotten lucky and found the real Naruto at the first try, when another clone tried to punch him from behind and was forced back by his back kick, which she repelled with her crossed forearms.

And then, Kakashi's blood began to run cold. He had just hit two different clones with solidly connected impacts; sure, both of them had guarded on time, but the kage bunshin jutsu needed a grazing contact to be dispelled. And yet, all five of the clones remained. In fact the kicked one was rubbing her gloved forearms, while the one he had punched first was standing between her two rescuers. All five clones smiled sweetly at him, and one of them even made a negation movement with her hand while winking and saying:

-"Nu-hu, you're not getting rid of us that easily, Kakashi-sensei"-

Another Naruto added:

-"This time you're going to have to actually work to keep that bell away from us, you know?"-

And then the five of them were upon him, with a speed that would have overwhelmed a less skilled shinobi quickly, and the six figures in the clearing spent the next minutes intertwined in a complex, beautiful dance of war that looked more like a staged choreography than an actual battle; the older shinobi twisting and jumping in the middle of the battlefield throwing punches and kicks to any target within reach, while the group of five blonde kunoichi worked in perfect coordination with their superior numbers and flexibility to offset the jönin's higher speed and sharingan's prediction capabilities.

After almost ten minutes of nonstop taijutsu battle, even Kakashi's stamina was beginning to run low, along with his patience. He had not had even a single chance to get one of the blonde girls in a one-on-one combat where he could overwhelm them and begin to lessen their numbers. The number five seemed to be the magic kage bunshin number, where they never got in the way of one another but at least one was always within reach to back the other up and deny Kakashi his advantage. Add to that the frightening discovery Kakashi had made about this improved kage bunshin Naruto had developed: they didn't dispelled with a simple hit in a hand, forearm, or shin. Somehow, Naruto had found the way to make the clones much more resilient than usual, and that made the task of dispelling them exponentially harder; right now Kakashi theorized that only a blow that would seriously harm a human being would dispel the girls around him, which sucked big time since until now he had been unable to maneuver them into such a position.

Finally deciding that enough was enough, and realizing that Naruto was playing his own strengths, precisely at outlasting him in the stamina department, Kakashi used a quick **Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu** to merge onto the earth and almost immediately emerge from it outside the circle of Narutos, clobber the nearest one in the back of the head with a backhanded fist and the next closest he managed to connect in the chin with a powerful sideway kick while the other three clones put some distance between them. Kakashi's theory proved correct, since both the clones he connected exploded in discrete, almost noiseless puffs of smoke, while the other three regrouped.

-"Well, Kakashi-sensei, I was wondering when you were going to begin throwing ninjutsu around, seeing as I already used my first one a while ago"-

Kakashi sweatdropped a little at that, it was so obvious that Naruto had opened the ninjutsu can since the very beginning, but he had been so engaged in the battle and his speculation of this improved kage bunshin that he had forgotten completely. Deciding that some payback was in order, Kakashi flashed through the hand seals of one of his favorite jutsu, and after taking a deep breath, he took his hand to his mouth and casted **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**, throwing the large ball of fire towards the clone group. Instead of the clones scrambling for cover, Kakashi felt a spike of chakra between them, and out of thin air, another Naruto appeared, already taking her hand to her mouth, making a ring with her thumb and index finger. Kakashi's eye widened when he realized what was happening, and the newly appeared Naruto performed the exact same jutsu; only with two times as much chakra as he had poured into it. The result was a larger fireball coming in his direction and practically swallowing his own attack, rolling towards him rather fast. Kakashi jumped backwards towards the stream that bordered the clearing, for once glad he had the foresight to choose a training ground with plenty of water. Landing deftly in the stream, Kakashi launched into another lightning fast series of hand seals to perform **Suiton: Suijinheki**, letting the defensive wall of water take the hit from the fire jutsu coming after him.

The great fireball crashed into the water wall and almost instantly gave way and exploded into a dense cloud of steam, which covered the whole area for several seconds. When the steam disappeared, both Kakashi and the group of Narutos were gone from the clearing, having used the cover of the steam to go into hiding, presumably into the forested area that formed part of the training ground or in Kakashi's case, underground. Both Shizune and Sakura were heavily impressed by the performance of the small group of Naruto clones, both by the extraordinary resilience of the clones themselves and by the flawless coordination they had, that allowed them to keep up for so long with a superior fighter in hand-to-hand combat. Tsunade turned to look at Jiraiya, who sported the biggest grin she had seen him wear outside of his "research" activities, and he puffed his chest a little, saying:

-"She's impressive, isn't she?"-

Tsunade smirked, and told him:

-"I was half-expecting you to leave Naruto in a small town to read a scroll or two and leave him to go your perverted way, but I think I owe you an apology. You did train him well"-

Jiraiya's face turned serious and he explained:

-"At first you would have not been too far off the mark, Tsunade. But I got my eyes opened, and realized Naruto-chan could take anything I threw at her. Only then did I begin to train her seriously, beyond what the original plan entailed. Believe me when I say that that taijutsu demonstration is in no way her strong point"- Jiraiya's smirk returned, and he signaled the trio of kunoichi to move after him, to find a nice watching spot for the rest of the fight.

Tsunade, still slightly unnerved by Jiraiya's casual way to refer to Naruto as a girl walked after her fellow Sannin, and mused that he had had some time to get used to that already. Besides, she was looking forward to the rest of the fight. Her two apprentices just followed quietly, wondering just what Naruto's strong point that Jiraiya mentioned was.

* * *

Morita Mizuru was a fifty-some woman that worked in Konoha's Land Registry office. The slightly plump woman, with her dark, already graying hair tied in a high bun and her thick, square frame glasses, worked with diligence everyday to keep the registry updated and to help whoever reached her counter with a request. While she was a civilian, she had always taken great care in performing her labors diligently, since the Land Registry in Konoha was of utmost importance for the operation and security of the village. It was here where it was recorded exactly who owned what in Konoha, when it came to land, and with the many attempts at infiltration that had happened since the foundation of the village, the accuracy of the registry was very important to help the ninja in charge of security with their labor.

It was a nice morning, and Mizuru was in the back of the office updating the files of certain of land whose owner had sadly died a little while ago, of natural causes, which was rarer than not in a village like this one. Then, the bell of the office's door ringed, and Mizuru left the file and went to attend the visitor. Instead of the chünin that visited her regularly with requests from the Hokage office or the ANBU assigned to watch over the office, a cute blonde girl, no older than eighteen, with a light yellow sundress, a leather handbag and a straw hat, adorned with a rose, stood there, waiting patiently to be received.

Mizuru gave her a welcoming smile, and said:

-"Good morning, dear. What can I do for you?"-

-"Good morning, ma'am. I was wondering if you could tell me who owns a certain building, the apartment building at the number 11 of the Academy Street. If it's not much of a bother"-

-"Not at all, dear. If you don't mind me asking, why do you want to know?"- Mrs. Morita asked.

-"I want to know if it would be available for sale"- The blonde girl said.

-"Well, let me find out who is the owner. It will take only a moment, so please wait here a bit"- With that, the dark haired woman went to look at the files in the back of the office. It did take only a moment to find the appropriate information, it was pretty well organized after all, and after she copied the information in a clean paper, she went back to the girl waiting at the counter.

-"Here it is. It seems that it belonged to the Third Hokage himself, and with his passing, the ownership was transferred to one Uzumaki Naruto. It seems he's a ninja and lives in the building itself. You may want to ask in the Hokage tower if you don't find him at home, ninjas are out of town all the time"- Mrs. Morita said and gave the slip of paper with the name and address to the blonde girl.

-"Thank you for your help, ma'am. I'll be going now"- The blonde girl bowed politely, and putting the information in her handbag, left the office.

Mrs. Morita promptly returned to her previous task; and outside the office, Naruto sighed and smoothed over her yellow sundress with her hands.

"_Who would have thought that Hokage-jiji would have made me the owner of the whole building? I always assumed he paid the rent for my apartment directly from my orphan allowance._ _Oh, well. It will be one less expenditure I'll have to make, I guess. I better remember to thank him for that when I take his gift to his tomb"_

She thought, and began to walk at her leisure towards the artisans sector of the town, gently holding her straw hat from the brim with one hand to avoid losing it to the morning breeze.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi crouched on the branch of a big, old tree, using the colors of his clothing to blend with the canopy around him. An hour ago, he had went into hiding inside the forest of the training ground 7, taking the chance provided by the steam cloud released during the clash of a fire and a water jutsu. He had spent almost twenty minutes moving slowly around the thicket, carefully using his expertly trained senses to locate his opponent, and once he had done that, he had made a kage bunshin and sent it to serve as bait for his mark. As instructed, the clone had moved to a small clearing a little ahead of his target and sat against the base of a nearby tree to read his beloved Icha Icha novel, apparently oblivious of his surroundings.

Just as he expected, the target had discovered the presence of the clone before breaking into the clearing, but there ended the accuracy of his prediction. Instead of jumping his clone in an attempt of a surprise attack, or trying to go around the clearing to attack from it's blind side, or even make some clones of her own to surround it, Naruto had just moved a little to find a really thick bush that could disguise her golden blonde hair and set up to wait and observe the clone. Kakashi was not really bored by the forty minutes Naruto had spent in wait so far, ninja were trained to pay attention to equally boring vigilance missions for extended periods of time, and the fact that the first of the three hours allotted for the test had passed worked in his favor, but he wondered just what the blonde was waiting for.

He then noticed the first signs of impatience from Naruto's part; the blonde girl was on her knees and elbows, with the head half buried among the bush's lowest foliage, looking at his clone, and she began to squirm a little with her lower body, trying to shift her weight around to recover blood circulation without shaking the whole bush with her shoulders and give away her presence. The result was a very… interesting… shaking of her hips, which were raised high in the air in relation to the rest of her body, and the tight pants she was using didn't help any; Kakashi could not help but blush a little under his mask, suddenly remembering the chapter 11 of Icha Icha Tactics, where the hero Taro had returned to his home to find the busty priestess Umi-chan trying to clean the mess she had made in his kitchen, scrubbing the floor dressed in nothing but the apron she expected to surprise her dear Taro-kun with, and shaking her hips much like Naruto was doing right now.

Kakashi giggled softly at the memories of what Taro and Umi-chan had done during the rest of chapter 11, when a soft, feminine voice whispered in his ear:

-"You're having ecchi thoughts, aren't you, Ero-sensei?"-

Only Kakashi's long and hard-earned experience allowed him to react on time, using **Kawarimi no Jutsu** to replace himself with a log, and he saw the wood fragment that replaced him being run through by an awkward thrust with the tantö Naruto carried over her hips. A second Naruto was crouching directly behind where he had been, with the small blade still stuck in the log, and said to him:

-"Be thankful I didn't want revenge for what you did to me three years ago, Ero-sensei. Otherwise I would have given you no warning. And watch your step, by the way."-

Before Kakashi could wonder if Naruto's words did really made a significant difference in his reaction time, the last words she said registered in his mind, and he jumped instinctively off his just reached landing spot, which promptly exploded in thousands of splinters, courtesy of a couple of explosive tags.

From there on, it was back to the battlefield for Kakashi. Everywhere he went, explosive tags were already set nearby ready to explode with his proximity, or wires were set to spring kunai traps in his direction, and whenever he managed to find a spot of land that was not trapped, one or two Narutos were already launching either **Kage Shuriken no Jutsu** or **Katon: Hösenka no Jutsu**, the cloned shuriken and small but quick projectiles of fire targeted strategically to keep him on the move and return him to the trapped area. Kakashi quickly realized what Naruto was trying, and so far succeeding in doing, she was herding him back towards the clearing. She had apparently spent the forty-something minutes he had used watching what surely was just a clone, in setting up what essentially was a trap corridor, an area where the borders were heavily trapped with double or triple wires and liberal use of explosive tags and kunai and the third border was used by a couple dozen of kage bunshin that systematically threw ranged jutsu at him that, while very economic chakra-wise if performed correctly, were dangerous enough he couldn't risk to be tagged by them. Therefore, he had only one logical exit, the fourth, non-trapped side, except that it was logical too that Naruto very likely needed him to head that way to spring the next part of her plan.

Kakashi figured that he didn't wanted to know the next part of said plan, and decided to break free of the trap corridor. He had uncovered his sharingan eye when the clones began to try and herd him to the clearing, and he had no problem avoiding the various projectile attacks. Deciding he could afford to waste a little bit of chakra, having already recovered completely from whatever he had had to spend in the first few minutes of the test, Kakashi used Kawarimi again to move near ground level, and then sent a sizeable amount of his chakra into another **Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu**, traveling underground a good hundred yards and clearing the trapped border of the zone completely. Waiting to see what Naruto would do now, he eye-smiled in that characteristic way of his and turned to flee the immediate area, only to find two Narutos there, the first going through the hand seals of what he recognized as **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu** again and pouring an alarming rate of chakra into the technique.

Kakashi quickly backed away from the clones, idly wondering if Naruto was a fire-type, since that was the only element she had used so far, and crouched in preparation to avoid the fireball coming his way. But instead of a larger than usual ball of red flames coming his way in a quick rolling movement, Kakashi saw the Naruto clone producing a superheated ball of white, yellowish fire, advancing very slowly towards him. He could feel the heat of the attack from a significant distance, and could only imagine just how hot the fire was, but realized that Naruto had put too much chakra into the power of the technique, and had forgotten to make it move faster. This way the attack was non-threatening; it didn't mattered how much the fire itself could hurt him, if there was no chance of it reaching him. He was thinking to make that his first lesson to Naruto after the test, when another, larger spike of chakra reached his senses and he heard the soft voice of the second Naruto clone call out another jutsu: **Füton: Daitoppa**.

This time, Kakashi's eye widened in alarm and he realized just why the fireball had been all about power and no speed. The speed of the attack came from the next jutsu, which usually consisted of an explosion of wind coming out from the user in a wide area in front of him and threw the targets away violently, with enough force to uproot trees; but now, the wind explosion began directly behind the flame attack, and the already white-hot fire feed on the wind jutsu and exploded outwards in Kakashi's general direction in a gigantic wall of fiery devastation.

Kakashi had to apply a large chunk of his chakra to get away from the attack in the form of a quick sequence of **Kawarimi no Jutsu** that had to extend beyond the normal reach of the technique, draining him heavily. Even so, he came out of the danger zone cooked medium-rare, with the small areas of skin he didn't cover rosy from the heat, and his stylish silver hair burnt at the tips. He took a moment to look back and realized that the combined attack had turned a good acre of forest into dusty ash, only few of the biggest trees had remained as charred husks, all other traces of vegetation in the area were turned to ash that was slowly settling down, like dirty gray snowflakes.

Elite jönin or no, he realized he would have been killed by that kind of attack, since there was no source of water in the immediate area to counter a fire technique so powerful. Three full seconds he had to contemplate the fact when another wave of Kage Shuriken flew at him, and half a dozen clones came out of the trees, trying to herd him towards the clearing again. This time Kakashi fought the clones back, and quickly realized that these clones were different from the ones he had fought with taijutsu. These ones were regular clones, and exploded with the first contact. They avoided close combat with him, however, and lured him into the traps already set in the area. Before he could find the real Naruto, Kakashi realized they had already arrived at the clearing, and he took advantage of that fact. He made two Kage Bunshin of his own to cover him for a second, and ran towards the stream, already performing hand signs. He sank another large chunk of his chakra into his **Suiton: Suiryüdan** and the stream literally came alive, rising into the air above his head in the shape of a mighty, roaring serpentine dragon, and launched itself against the group of clones, destroying both Naruto's and Kakashi's clones in its rampage, until the chakra was spent and the water lost its shape and soaked the ground, a part of it flowing back into the stream, which now had a water level a couple feet lower.

Surveying the muddy terrain to find the real Naruto, Kakashi detected behind him the presence of Tsunade, the Hokage, who raised her hand and told him:

-"It is enough. The test is finished."-

Kakashi turned to look at her, and realized she held the little bell in her raised hand. Quickly he checked his belt, and found another bell there, which puffed in the tell-tale sign of a kage bunshin dispelling itself. Naruto was standing behind the Hokage, along with the other test witnesses and he smiled when he realized that the massive amount of traps, kage bunshin and even the combined technique had had the sole purpose of keeping him from noticing that the bell in his belt didn't rang, long enough for Naruto to deliver the item she had captured during the moments he allowed himself to daydream with his beloved Icha Icha, and that most likely that crouching clone had been instructed to shake her hips knowing completely the effect it could have.

Kakashi clapped, approaching Naruto slowly, and told her:

-"Excellent distraction, Naruto. I never realized the bell was a fake, with all the other stuff you threw at me"-

Naruto scratched the back of her head in a gesture that everyone present recognized as purely Naruto's. Then, she reached in the kunai holster strapped to her left leg and pulled a small, orange book from it:

-"Thank you, Ero-sensei. Here, I have a gift for you. It is the newest issue, pre-edited version. And it is autographed"- And she gave him the little book.

Kakashi was on the verge of tears from receiving such a thoughtful gift from his now most-favorite-student-ever, when his mind registered the new nickname his not-so-favorite-anymore student had just given him, but instead of complaining about it, decided that there were more important things in life, like the little piece of bliss in written form in his hands right now. Thus, Kakashi mumbled something non-committal about an old lady needing his help to cross the street, and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Jiraiya said that he too had important business to attend to, and walked off with a perverted grin in his face, surely heading into the direction of the nearest onsen.

Tsunade congratulated Naruto on a job well done, even if she went a little overboard with the distractions, and told her that she and Shizune were going to be a little late for the gathering, that she should begin without them. Then both the Hokage and her first apprentice left the training ground 7, tonton hopping next to them, and oinking happily.

Sakura had been lost in her thoughts, both by the impressive performance Naruto had given against their sensei, and because of the cryptic answer about Naruto's identity she got from the Hokage before the test began. Turning to said blonde teammate, she cocked her head to one side, and set her fist in her hips, telling Naruto:

-"Ok. I've been very patient about this, but now I want an explanation. What the hell has happened with you?"-

Naruto was looking in the town direction and for a moment seemed not to pay attention to Sakura, but then turned to look at her, and told her:

-"I'll explain everything at the gathering, Sakura-chan. It is a story I don't care to repeat, so you'll have to wait a little and get informed with everyone else. If you'll excuse me, I have to go make preparations."-

Without further explanation, Naruto disappeared in a **Shunshin no Jutsu**, much in the same way Kakashi had done earlier. With that, Sakura stood alone in the training ground, with a perplexed expression. Since when Naruto denied her such a simple request? Didn't he love to tell the stories of his adventures to anyone who cared to listen? _Her adventures_. The sobering thought crossed Sakura's mind and she began to walk slowly back to her home. It seemed that she was going to spend her free day attending to Naruto's "party", there was no way she could miss whatever explanation he… she, had to give.

* * *

Hyüga Hinata was walking on the streets of Konoha, enjoying the afternoon air and the bustle of the streets, with all the people walking around, tending to their business. The Hyüga household was always very solemn, very quiet, and everyone went about their duties in as much silence as possible, so the cheerful noise of the streets was a nice change of pace. She was not dressed in her usual ninja garb; the lilac and grey overcoat and navy blue pants with ninja sandals had been replaced with a dark blue yukata that was almost the same shade of her long, silky hair and had a beautifully done full, pearly white moon that matched her byakugan eyes, along with a white obi. In her own opinion she was a little too dressed up for an informal gathering, but the Hyüga were nothing if not very formal at all times, and her station as the heiress of the clan demanded she presented herself with great dignity in all social situations.

Next to her, her cousin Hyüga Neji walked with her, garbed in a sober gray yukata that, however, was not too different from his usual white ninja clothes. He, being branch member, could have chosen a less formal outfit, but he was escorting his cousin to the party and therefore had to look the part.

Hinata was excited while walking next to Neji, thinking in the invitation she had received in the morning: Uzumaki Naruto, her long time crush had finally come back from almost three years of his training trip, and the first news she got from him was an invitation for a party! It was not like he had invited her to a date, after all, her cousin Neji had received an invitation too, but the point was that Naruto hadn't forgotten about her. Hinata had always had a severe problem of self-esteem, and while she had been growing out of it with the support of her friends, it still was usual for her to have lower expectations of herself. Thus the invitation had thrilled her and she was walking with a beaming smile towards the Hokage monument lookout; however, the more they approached the gathering place, the more doubts began to grow in her belly, gnawing at her confidence. It became obvious by the time they reached the stairs that climbed the cliff side, when her step faltered and she grasped the handrail with so much strength that her knuckles went white. She began to seriously consider the idea of returning to her house, and apologize later for not assisting, when her cousin's hand landed on her shoulder softly. She turned to look at him and he told her, without turning his head:

-"I think Naruto-san will be very impressed to see you again after these three years, Hinata-sama. But that's just me"-

And he went on his way, climbing slowly the stairs. The vow of confidence helped her to beat the stuffing out of the self-doubts she had, and she jogged after him.

Both Hyüga teens reached the lookout area, to find a scene that shocked them quite thoroughly. A big, simple but sturdy wooden table was sitting in the center of the area, enough to have a score of people and then some sit around it, filled with foodstuffs of all kinds, and cushions all around it so people could sit around without risking their clothes in the stone floor. There were lots of paper lamps set up by poles around the area, since the sun was about to set already. However, what had both Hyüga stunned was the people all over the place, or more specifically, the Narutos all over the place.

Blonde girls in orange yukatas representing a sunset, hair in a bun held with wooden hair picks and whiskered cheeks were all around, mixed with the guests, one girl here chatting amiably with Aburame Shino, Hinata's teammate and friend; another girl there talking excitedly over an open scroll with Higurashi Tenten, Neji's female teammate, and drabbling something with an inked brush. Another whiskered girl was singing at duo with Akimichi Chöji a silly song they were making on the go about how "life is better with ramen and pork", with Yamanaka Ino oddly laughing her heart out at the goofy antics of the pair and their absurd song letters; and another clone was near the singing pair, with a pink apron tied over her yukata, tending at the barbecue grill, and joking about something with Rock Lee, Neji's eccentric teammate, friend and rival. And yet another girl was walking around the gathered "rookie 12" and the few others present like Ichiraku Teuchi, his daughter Ayame and their old academy sensei, Umino Iruka, with a teapot in hand, looking for someone who needed his cup refilled.

The new arrivals just stood there looking at the bizarre scene until one of the orange-clad girls noted their presence at the stairs and walked to them, waving:

-"Hinata-chan, Neji-kun, welcome to the party!"-

The blonde girl bowed politely to them both, and suddenly there were two girls standing in front of them, making them blink. One took Neji by the arm, and pulled him along towards the corner of the table where Tenten was, saying to him:

-"Come over here, Neji-kun. Tenten and I were discussing this new seal I designed, and I need you to help us see if they work any different from the common ones."-

A confused Neji was dragged along by the girl, while the other hugged gently Hinata and then guided her to the table:

-"It is good to see you again, Hinata-chan! Come over here, I have lots of stuff to chat with you!"-

The girl she presumed was Naruto being his usual goofy self pulled her by her hand softly, urging her to go sit by the table. Hinata complied with a warm feeling growing in her chest and the red spreading over her cheeks, at the beaming smile the Naruto clone was directing at her.

Hinata soon relaxed before the unusual circumstances and began to chat with her Naruto clone, who was telling her of the time she had been traveling with "Ero-sennin" along the coastal towns of the eastern reaches of Hi no Kuni. Soon she saw some other arrivals to the gathering, including the Suna representative, Sabaku no Temari, several jönin senseis like Hatake Kakashi, Sarutobi Asuma and her own teacher Yuhi Kurenai who took the spot next to Hinata's at the table; she once saw Sarutobi Konohamaru, grandson of the late Sandaime Hokage running after one of the Narutos that somehow managed to stay ahead of him with orange yukata and all; she could also spot her cousin Neji who had been dragged into Tenten's and Naruto's argument about seals, now absorbed in it too; and at one time Hinata saw Sakura arriving, being received by a Naruto and guided to the food at the table, but the pink-haired girl just sat quietly, deep in her own thoughts.

The sun had disappeared a while ago, and the paper lamps were doing a great job of creating a cozy atmosphere from the open space of the lookout, which had a beautiful view of the village below with all the lights that illuminated the streets. Most people had eaten already and had slowly gathered at the table, involved in several conversations, while the number of Naruto clones had reduced to just a handful, one chatting at the head of the table, another with Tenten and Neji and a third still going around refilling cups with the teapot, a few others chatting here and there. It was at this time that the Hokage, her apprentice Shizune and the toad sage Jiraiya arrived discretely, and the teapot Naruto split in two to go receive them, marveling Hinata again with the perfect execution of Naruto's signature jutsu.

Jiraiya held the hostess Naruto by the elbow, and whispered something to her ear. Said clone sighed deeply, a spark of sadness appearing in her otherwise cheerful eyes, and dispelled in a small wisp of smoke. The other clones at the place immediately apologized and disappeared, leaving only one Naruto at the head of the table. It was then that she stood, and said:

-"Good evening. I thank you all for attending today. Please listen because I have an important announcement to make."-

Everybody looked a little confused at this except for the latest arrivals, who just sat next to Naruto. Then, the blonde continued:

-"All of you have been asking what I've been doing all afternoon henged as a girl. There is a long story behind my appearance today, and I feel I need to begin by the beginning. Listen, I consider all of you my friends and precious people, and I've decided you deserve the truth"-

The whiskered girl took a deep breath and continued:

-"The truth is that I've lied to you all. I did it out of fear you would stay away from me if you knew the truth, even if some of you already know it, but the fact is that since I found out this truth I've kept it hidden, and that is not fair to you. One should never lie to her friends, if she really cares about them. So here it goes:

I am Uzumaki Naruto; genin ranked kunoichi of Konohagakure and the living prison of the Kyübi no Yöko, the nine tailed demon fox. I am a Jinchüriki. I am pleased to meet you."-

And she bowed.

Before the younger could fully comprehend what had just been announced to them or the older get over the shock of hearing Naruto come out with his… no, her terrible secret, the blonde girl continued speaking:

-"Sixteen years ago, the Kyübi no kitsune was compelled to attack this village, and since it is a very powerful demon, no one was able to kill it, not even the Yondaime Hokage, who decided to use an alternate plan, to trap the beast using füinjutsu. In order to capture the bijü, the Yondaime used a special jutsu to summon the Shinigami himself, and with his help trapped the Kyübi inside a newborn baby, the only kind of container that could survive such procedure. I was that baby.

The help of the Shinigami was paid with Yondaime's life, and the Sandaime, taking up the hat again, decided to pass a law where no one could talk about this with those that didn't already knew, in an attempt to limit the hate and resentment that the villagers would show to me, thinking me the demon reincarnated. We all know it didn't worked that well, for all of jiji's good intentions. But that law is the reason you guys were never told, and I was unaware of the reason of the cold treatment I got from the people until the genin graduation day, where Mizuki turned traitor and told me the truth. It was Iruka-sensei's acknowledgment that helped me keep my sanity in check that day. But the point it that I knew since the day I became a ninja of Konoha, and I didn't told any of you. I apologize for that. I was afraid of your reaction, but during my training trip I was taught that a friendship cannot be built upon lies, so I'm coming clean with all of you now.

Besides, there is no way I could explain why I was a boy when I left and I am a girl now that I'm back, if I tried to keep the Jinchüriki bit a secret. So the story goes like this:

A little more than six months after we left Konoha, Ero-Sennin got wind of the position of some of Orochimaru's forces, and the informant claimed his next container, Uchiha Sasuke was among that particular group. I found out and ran off the camp in the mountains where we were training to chase Sasuke and bring him back, just like I had promised Sakura."-

At this point, Naruto looked to Sakura who had been real quiet all the gathering.

-"My promise of a lifetime to you is no longer valid, Sakura-chan."-

Sakura's eyes widened in shock; everyone knew Naruto's nindo was "I never go back on my word!", and he had promised her to bring back Sasuke to Konoha; in her mind, it was as good as done, because for all the noisy and obnoxious that Naruto was, he could be relied upon. Before she could get angry or sad at Naruto's declaration, or say something in retort, Naruto continued talking:

-"The reason my promise is no longer valid, Sakura-chan, is because that day Sasuke destroyed that promise. He killed me"-

Then, the girl began to recount the day when she, still as the old Naruto everybody knew confronted her wayward teammate again:

* * *

Flashback

* * *

_Naruto moved swiftly among the trees, running and jumping from rock to branch to tree trunk, gaining speed while descending the mountain towards the northern valley. He had been moving for almost two days now, with only a quick stop to sleep, and he was elated his plan was working well so far. Ero-sennin apparently had not realized the Naruto traveling with him was a clone, and he was grateful they were traveling and not training, otherwise his clone wouldn't last for five minutes. _

_He, however, was a man on a mission. He had an opportunity to fulfill the promise he had made to Sakura-chan, and he was not going to pass it up. He was going to find Sasuke and bring him back to the village, no matter what! Moving a little faster with renewed determination, he reached the valley in a matter of minutes, and it was a little longer that he spotted the group moving slowly through the countryside, without a care in the world, the Oto shinobi don't even bothering to set up a perimeter, so he put his hastily conceived plan into action: He called onto his signature technique, __**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**__, and a good couple thousand clones of him rained down the apparently unprepared Oto ninjas. Clones began to be forcefully dispersed everywhere, but among the chaotic melee and the smoke cover of so many clones exploding all around the place, he managed his objective, he dived like a missile for his target and grabbing one Uchiha Sasuke from the robe-like belt he was wearing with one arm, he pushed chakra onto his body to carry him and jump off, taking a random direction among the trees._

_A couple minutes later he deemed it safe enough, and landed in a tiny clearing, letting go of his prey, which just stood there looking annoyed at him, like waiting for an explanation of Naruto's behavior. Naruto grinned at his best friend, looking at the odd black and white Oto uniform he was sporting, the odd purple rope tied around his waist and the sword he carried, and told him:_

_-"How was that for a rescue, eh, teme? Now come on, let's get moving before they realize which direction we took"-_

_Sasuke's only response was to move with the fast speed Naruto remembered from him, maybe faster, and connect Naruto squarely on the face with a powerful straight punch. Naruto was thrown several feet back, landing on his back, and immediately stood, tasting the coppery taste of his own blood from a cut lip. Naruto hissed in an attempt to yell without raising his voice:_

_-"What is wrong with you, teme. Don't tell me you're still with that stupid idea of giving your body to the snake-bastard. Come on, let's go back to Konoha. Sakura-chan is still waiting for you"-_

_Sasuke's only answer was to sneer in disgust at Naruto's words, and he blurred into movement again, this time kicking Naruto in the abdomen with a side kick that threw the blonde against a solid tree, sliding to the ground afterwards. He then finally spoke:_

_-"You don't seem to understand, dobe. I don't give a shit about Konoha, or you, or Sakura, or anything other than killing my brother. Nothing else! If you don't get it into that thick skull of yours I'll just kill you and be done with it. Maybe that way you all will stop bothering me"-_

_Naruto stood and glared at his teammate. It seemed he was being as mule-headed as usual, so he would have to kick him around a bit to make him see reason. He had to hurry, though, the Oto ninjas surely had already cut the number of his clones down and they would be upon him any minute:_

_-"I'm sorry, teme, but I don't really have the time to stop and chat with you. I made Sakura-chan the promise of a lifetime that I would bring you back and I intend to deliver. You're going back to Konoha, whether you like it or not"-_

_At that point Naruto concentrated in his belly, and pulled out of the seal some of the demonic chakra of the Kyübi; a red cloak of the foul chakra enveloped him and formed a pair of ears and a single tail, waving in a nonexistent breeze, making his whisker marks thicker, his eyes red, his senses sharper, his body stronger. He crouched in all fours, and launched at Sasuke with all his might, trying to overpower him before he had time to use his sharingan or that cursed seal Orochimaru gave him. It was already too late for that, though, since Sasuke had already activated both resources, three black tomoes swirling in the sea of blood red his eyes had become, and his pale skin covered with black flame-like markings. Naruto tried to connect him in the head a few times, getting frustrated because Sasuke seemed faster that he had been during their battle at the Valley of the End, and not even the extra reach of his chakra claws was enough to take the Uchiha down for the count. In fact his opponent snickered and told him something about a dobe not being worthy of fighting him, and Naruto began to get desperate. Whatever time his clones bought him was surely about to run out. So he decided to gamble; he still had not full control over the second tail of chakra from the Kyübi, but there was too much at stake here. Besides, he was sure Sasuke could take a bit of a roughening up no problem._

_So he took some space from his opponent, and focused on increasing the flow of chakra from the seal, not taking his eyes off Sasuke for a second. And then he was surprisingly pulled into his mindscape, standing in front of the beast's cage. He was about to yell at the demon to return him to the land of the living, when he noted in shock that he was not the only one standing in front of the giant prison bars. Sasuke was there too, looking at the red chakra pouring slowly out of the cage, and he mumbled something about Orochimaru being right, before he grabbed the bubbly river of dark red, sickening energy and somehow forced it back into the cage with a gesture. Naruto stared, shocked and amazed, and in an instant he was back into the real world, and the chakra cloak of the Kyübi was gone!_

_Sasuke walked slowly towards him, the little tomoes of his sharingan spinning, and he pulled out the sword on his belt, slowly, as if making a show of having all the time in the world. He then told Naruto:_

_-"That beast you carry is not going to help you this time, dobe. I'm not going back, I don't give a damn if Orochimaru destroys Konoha as long as I get my revenge, and since you refuse to see reality, I'll take your eyes out, since you don't use them, anyway"-_

_Naruto, alarmed by this unexpected turn of events where his trump card was removed from play so casually by his opponent, and by the seriousness in Sasuke's voice, tried to put some more distance between them with a jump, to gain time, but Sasuke was upon him in the blink of an eye, and ran his sword cleanly through Naruto's stomach, the kunai he had tried to use to parry at the last instant sliced cleanly in half. Naruto grunted in pain, and Sasuke kept moving, using the momentum of their jump to ram the point of his sword into a tree trunk, leaving Naruto impaled with his sword to the tree._

_The hit against the tree hurt some, but the sword stuck through his belly hurt like all hell, and he could feel his entrails burn with a strange fire that was beginning to already spread from the wound: poison. He coughed a little blood that reached Sasuke's white shirt, and tried to raise his head to look Sasuke in the eye, only to find the Uchiha had wasted no time to make good of his threat, and all-encompassing pain exploded in Naruto's face making him scream in agony: a pair of lightning-covered fingers had dug mercilessly into his eyes. Sasuke had just blinded him, without hesitation or remorse._

_Naruto screamed his lungs out from the pain, until he could scream no more, it seemed forever to the blonde boy but it was no more than a minute or two. Then the pain that had flared in his face and destroyed his thoughts went down a little, only a little, mind you, and in his brain began to spin random thoughts he barely paid attention to over the searing pain; then he heard Sasuke's voice talking with someone else. He idly noticed the other voice was Kabuto's and a little part of him, isolated from the searing pain, noticed they were talking about how letting Naruto catch up to them was delaying them a little, and Sasuke said it was time to see if the Uchiha scrolls were right about the Mangekyo. He heard footsteps and felt the blade in his gut being twisted around cruelly, which rekindled his pain a little, and after it went down to the point were he could think again, he heard Sasuke's voice in a mocking tone:_

_-"Don't worry about your so-called precious people. They're going to join you soon enough"- _

_And pain reached new, incredible heights as lightning chakra poured out of his opponent's hand and into him through the sword buried in his stomach. He found new strength to scream, and could heard the desperate voice of the Kyübi, yelling in anger and frustration that he could not die and drag the mightiest of demon with him, and just when he thought that the pain would go on forever, he began to go numb, and feel tired, like those times he had overdid his training, but many times worse, and the last thing he heard, beside his failing yells of pain, was Sasuke's voice idly commenting to someone, maybe Kabuto, that he had not gotten his Mangekyo sharingan:_

_-"… I guess he was not much of a friend to me, after all. Let's go."-_

_And then darkness claimed him._

* * *

End Flashback

* * *

When Naruto finished her recount of her confrontation with Uchiha Sasuke, everyone was looking at her shocked; Hinata had even taken her hands to her face to stifle a gasp when Naruto spoke about the way Sasuke had burned her eyes off. No one knew what to say, and Naruto herself was just standing there, very still, waiting for a reaction, when Shikamaru, who had his eyes closed since the beginning of the tale, looked intently to the whiskered girl and asked her:

-"So, Naruto, I'm assuming the Kyübi helped you survive, then. Care to tell us how?"-

Naruto nodded, and continued her explanation:

-"Yes, as I said, I was burnt from the inside out by lightning. Normally, being a Jinchüriki made me heal faster, and from worse wounds than a normal person could take, but this was too much for whatever rate of regeneration I had. I was lost in a sea of darkness, and I was already beginning to fade away, I knew it was over. But the Kyübi is a stubborn beast, and poured whatever chakra it could into my body to stave off death, at least for a minute.

It confronted me, and offered me a deal, one that would allow it to rebuild my body and make us both survive. At first I rejected its help, I thought that if I had failed to keep my promise, at least I could complete the task the Yondaime gave me, and rid the world of the nine-tailed bijü. But the Kyübi reminded me that Orochimaru has every intention to destroy Konoha, and kill all the people from this village I care about and I decided I could not give up if there was a chance to survive and protect them. So I squeezed all the benefits I could think off of the deal, taking advantage of the fact that the Kyübi was quite desperate to close it and was willing to concede a lot, and made the deal with it, which allowed it to reach out of the seal's jurisdiction this one time and it set to rebuild my body as per the agreement.

The demon remade me as a woman because it is quite convinced of the superiority of females, being one itself, and since the deal said: 'remake Uzumaki Naruto's body the best way possible, as long as he stays human', well, the bastard played this little joke on me. I've already reviewed the wording of the deal with Ero-sennin and others many times, and we've come to the conclusion the Kyübi was truly scared for it's life, since there isn't any kind of backdoor it could use to take over my mind, or get free, or anything like that. Not that I don't want your opinion about it later, Shikamaru-kun. But I can't really complain about the whole thing, since the other option was an unmarked grave somewhere in the mountains east of Ta no Kuni."-

She shrugged, and Shikamaru nodded. Then Ino raised her hand, like a student at school, and launched her own question:

-"And what about your mind. Are you still Naruto in there? I mean, you're a girl now, physically, and you behave like a girl, so, are you still…. well, you?"-

-"Yes, Ino-chan, I'm still me. At first, when the change happened, it was too much for me to deal with, and I was angry at the kitsune-baka for it; and depressed because of Sasuke too. I was a real mess. But Ero-sennin found me the help I needed when I needed it the most. I behave like a girl because I was taught how to be a girl as part of the process of acceptance; if I could not change it I needed to adapt or go crazy, and as I said, this was better than the other option. But yes, I'm still me, still love orange, still like pranks and still think Ichiraku ramen is the best food the world has ever seen"-

The Yamanaka heiress nodded at the answer, while both Teuchi and his daughter blushed at such praise; then Tenten went pale, jumped off her spot around the table and said:

-"Hey! But if you're really a girl then you go to the girl's side of an onsen! And if you're still Naruto inside then you… well, you… I-I mean…."-

-"Yes, Tenten-chan, I'm still Naruto and I still like girls, and yes, I will look if we ever find each other in the onsen. Thankfully the furball did repair my eyes as we agreed…"-

Naruto said in with a polite smile that then turned into a grin when she added:

-"… but if you think I'm the only girl that likes other girls that you will ever find in a public bath, then you're a lot more naïve than I thought."-

Both Hinata and Tenten went beet red at hearing that, and Temari shook her head in resignation when Chöji, Kiba, Kakashi and Jiraiya were all blown away by their nosebleeds (How Kakashi managed to do that with that mask of his is a mystery to this day). Even the ever-composed Iruka bleed a little and Shikamaru tried to hide his own nose in the crook of his arm, which he was using as a pillow, but he got smacked by both Ino and Temari, who were next to him. He only mumbled "troublesome blondes" and then went pale when Ino whispered in his ear that "now they were three troublesome blondes to worry about".

After that, the atmosphere lightened somewhat, and Naruto answered a few more questions about the Kyübi and her training trip, some were left unanswered because details of the training trip were classified, as all missions are. In the end, the group of young ninjas already known around the Konoha shinobi force as the "rookie twelve" took the news noticeable well, and assured Naruto several times that they still considered her a friend.

Neji put the general feelings in a simple phrase:

-"This new knowledge has shown me that you don't bow to fate, and that your words back when we fought at the chünin exam were not empty. I have nothing but respect for that, and for you."-

And he offered Naruto his hand. She took it with moist eyes, and by the time her peers had said their piece and left, all of them along the same lines, she was already shedding tears of happiness. In the end, Sakura was the last person to leave, standing quietly at one side while every other assistant talked a few words with Naruto before leaving. She was just standing there, still thinking and rethinking everything she had heard this day, when Naruto spoke to her and she realized they were already alone:

-"So, Sakura-chan, what about you? I'm a monster to you?"-

Sakura stared at her teammate, and shook her head quickly, trying to find the correct words to say. Finally, she spoke:

-"No, I don't think you're the demon, Naruto. No matter how obnoxious you're at times…"-

She tried a little joke to lighten the heavy mood that had settled over them, and then continued:

-"I believe you and I don't have anything to ask about it. But I want to ask you about Sasuke-kun. We can still save him, right? Together, I mean. We can convince him…"-

Naruto looked at the desperate hope being held among unshed tears in those emerald eyes she used to love back when she was a boy, and said:

-"If I thought there was any chance, any at all of Sasuke reconsidering his position I would not doubt in trying to talk to him again, Sakura-chan. But he has chosen his path, and we cannot force our opinion of what his life should be on him. He really intends to damn this whole village and everyone in it so long as he gets what he wants. There are only two ways he'll come back to Konoha, in chains or in a body bag."-

Sakura shuddered at that declaration, and Naruto put a comforting hand in her shoulder, and continued:

-"In human terms, he has killed me twice, Sakura-chan. The first time, at the Valley of the End, he rammed a **chidori** through my chest two times and I would have died if not for the Kyübi. The second time in the mountains, he killed me again, without the slightest hesitation; like you kill an enemy, someone that is nothing more than an obstacle for your mission. And I cannot in good conscience let you take the risk to try and dissuade him. He has already spat to my face the fact he doesn't care about you or anyone else, and you don't have a bijü to bring you back from death's doorstep.

The first fight we had, we were even and I held back because I didn't want to hurt him, so he took advantage of it to leave me nearly dead and flee. The second time, whatever training Orochimaru gave him and the fact the sharingan has some degree of control over the demon's chakra resulted in the fight not being even at all, and I'll admit he moped the floor with me. I've worked hard since that day, Sakura-chan, and next time I see Sasuke I'll go in for the kill. His plans put every life in Konoha in jeopardy and I cannot allow that."-

Sakura's tears finally flowed at hearing Naruto's words, and she hugged herself, as if feeling cold. Naruto just looked at her with worry and sympathy in her eyes, and asked if she would be alright:

-"I… I'll need some time to think, Naruto. But thank you for caring…"-

And with that, the pink haired kunoichi left the lookout. Naruto stood there, alone, feeling sorry for the girl that was her first crush, and wishing she could do something to help her get over the Uchiha bastard that had broken her heart. Knowing there was nothing she could do but give Sakura time to assimilate the news and a friendly ear to listen when she wanted to; she split into a couple of clones, who immediately jumped about to seal the various stuff and leftovers from the gathering in a couple of storage scrolls. When they finished and gave her the scrolls, she slipped them into her obi, and walked slowly towards her house, letting go for a moment of the heavy emotions, both positive and negative that had derived from the day's events, and just walked enjoying the cool night breeze and the stars in the sky above Konoha, glittering like a thousand upon thousands of tiny diamonds.

She would enjoy the last bits of the day, forgetting all her worries, for tomorrow, she had a world to fix.

* * *

Hello there, welcome to the second chapter. As you can imagine, it is not that I write really fast, is that when I wrote the first chapter it somehow became larger than intended, and I decided to split it in two. Next is going to take a bit, I'm afraid. And please don't worry about the Morita Mizuru woman, it is just a background random character, it is not like I'm going to begin to spam OCs all over the place.

Jutsu:

**kage bunshin no jutsu**: Shadow Clone Technique

**Doton: Dochū Eigyo no Jutsu**: Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique

**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**: Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

**Suiton: Suijinheki**: Water Release: Water Encampment Wall

**Kawarimi no Jutsu**: Replacement Technique

**Kage Shuriken no Jutsu**: Shadow Shuriken Technique

**Katon: Hösenka no Jutsu**: Fire Release: Phoenix Immortal Fire Technique

**Füton: Daitoppa**: Wind Release: Great Breakthrough

**Suiton: Suiryüdan**: Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique

**Shunshin no Jutsu**: Body Flicker Technique

**Chidori**: Thousand Birds

Countries:

**Hi no Kuni**: Land of Fire. The country where Konoha, the Village Hidden among Tree Leaves, resides.

**Ta no Kuni**: Land of Rice Fields, where Orochimaru founded Otogakure, the Village Hidden in Sound


	3. Poisons

Disclaimer: I wish I did own Naruto but sadly this is not the case.

* * *

The small blade flowed like the surf over the waves, reflecting the sun like quicksilver, in random, unpredictable, yet beautiful patterns, in harmony with the wielder's body, who jumped, spiraled and cart wheeled all over the little clearing. The blade finally stopped in a straight thrust, the hand that held the ebony hilt gripped it with a firm but relaxed grasp, the other hand supporting the first from the wrist.

Naruto stood from her half-crouch, bowing to the imaginary enemy that had been her practice partner, and sheathed the tantö behind her back. She was panting lightly, and a sheet of sweat covered her skin, damped her hair, making it stick to her fair face. She had a big smile, however, despite the exertion and the ungodly hour; every time she worked the combat routines she had been taught with her tantö, she could see clearly the toothy smile of the old man, Arashi, who had been tutoring her some time ago. Wondering how the old man was doing now, she breathed deeply a few times, and then began to jog among the trees, slowly at first, but she began to speed up and quickly she was going at a dead run, weaving a path among the trees with grace and confidence.

It had been a little more than a week since she had returned to Konoha, and she found that for all the joy she got from returning to the village and the people she cared about, she had grown used to the life on the road. By now she had precious people at other places, too, and she was missing them already. Another thing bothering her was the problem of the prying eyes, too. When on the road, or while training with someone Ero-Sennin knew, they had always managed to find some place away from civilization, where she could let loose and train with dozens of clones, hundreds even, and make real progress. But now, back in Konoha, a village full of ninja, a BIG village full of ninja, she was having a hard time finding a place to train while keeping a low profile.

Right now, while she trained physically deep in the forested area behind the Hokage monument and she had her small house packed full of clones working in füinjutsu theory, several applications of the same, and reading all kinds of books, from art to history to politics to economy. She had had to seal the house off, however, to avoid the occasional shinobi passerby watching. She knew she was being spied upon, and for that she had to seed a fake training clone, one that was training in a basic taijutsu form in training ground 7. This clone was being watched by no less than five different hidden shinobi, and she was sure only one was the ANBU that Tsunade-baa-chan had assigned to watch over her as an anti-Akatsuki contingency, since Ero-Sennin was out of town. She would have to follow the others to know exactly who she was dealing with.

She headed back to the Hokage monument after her morning workout, and when she arrived she made a "signal clone", a flimsy **Kage Bunshin** with barely any chakra at all, that dispelled immediately, and updated all her active clones with her most recent memories. That signaled her fake clone to launch into a chain of **Shunsin no Jutsu**, and she did the same. Both finished their trajectories right above the Sandaime's head, with the clone arriving a split second before her, and dispelling immediately. The combined effect for her followers was as if she was the clone all along, and she looked over the village with a grin and a shout, before launching herself in a mad dash towards Ichiraku ramen.

The five chakra signatures that had been watching her followed suit, and so focused were they that never noticed the group of Naruto bunshin following them, although to be fair, the ninja that could pierce the **Töton Jutsu** that Jiraiya invented in his youth hadn't been born yet.

* * *

Naruto walked at a slow pace, patting her belly happily, having just enjoyed a delicious meal at Ichiraku's, and enjoyed even more the company and conversation of the Ichiraku family. They were two of the very few people that had acknowledge her when she was a little kid, and if it were not for them and their open-mindedness and generosity, she would have starved to death before her fist year at the academy.

She came out of her musings about the past, when her feet put her at the door of the Nara household. A couple days ago, she had made an appointment of sorts to talk with her old schoolmate and friend, Nara Shikamaru, about the Kyübi situation. She knocked, and a brunette woman with an apron opened the door. Bowing politely, she said:

-"Good, morning, ma'am; I was wondering if Shikamaru was home."-

The woman smiled, and bowed in return. She answered in a soft, melodic voice:

-"Good morning, young lady. Come on in, I'll call him down"-

Naruto entered and removed her shinobi sandals, while Shikamaru's mother went to the stairs and the whole polite, soft-spoken person melted off, and she yelled in a high-pitched, authoritative tone:

-"Shika; get down here right this minute! You got a visitor, so you better come receive her."-

She turned to Naruto and became all smiles and politeness again, guided the blonde kunoichi to the drawing room, served her some tea and left. Then, Naruto could hear the screaming again, and not twenty seconds later, a sleepy Shikamaru entered the room.

He raised a hand in greeting, went to a corner of the room to pick up a shogi board and sat in front of Naruto, setting the game in the table in front of them, all the while muttering about troublesome women and his interrupted cloud-watching time. Naruto just sipped her tea and smiled; Shikamaru would always be Shikamaru.

They began to play, taking their sweet time with each movement. A couple of games went by, both of them clear wins for the Nara heir, although he could easily see Naruto was doing way better than he would have managed before the training trip. The third game was already underway when suddenly Naruto spoke:

-"When I was dying, the furball pulled me to the seal. I can see inside the seal, in my mind, and talk to it, sometimes. It was angry, furious even, about ranting about how useless of a jinchüriki I was. It yelled that it, as the most powerful of bijü, should not have to suffer such humiliations. But underneath it all, I could see the fear in its eyes, the panic at knowing that we were dying and it could do nothing about it."-

Shikamaru just listened, his eyes fixed on the game pieces, but his mind picturing the scene being narrated to him, while Naruto took a deep breath and kept talking:

* * *

Flashback

* * *

_Naruto landed on his butt, on the dirty water that covered the floor of this no-place, the damp sewer-like scenario inside his mind where the Kyübi's cage was. The demon was yelling at him, telling him it could do so much better as far as jailors went, and that he was an utter fool for letting the Uchiha brat get the drop on him. Naruto was just sitting there, stunned, his ears ringing with the last words the Uchiha had said before his conscience faded, "…I guess he was not much of a friend to me, after all…", and of course, AFTER frying him from the inside out with lightning._

_Naruto didn't knew what to do; he really saw Sasuke as family, like his brother, and he thought that it was a bit ironic Sasuke was betraying him pretty much the same way Uchiha Itachi had betrayed him and sparked his mad quest for revenge in the first place. He was pulled out of his musings by a word that he never imagined would ever hear in the Kyübi's voice; the word was: please._

_Naruto raised his head, and looked the mighty beast in the eye. He saw the fear in the demon quite clearly now, and he stood slowly, waiting for it to repeat itself._

_-"I said I'll save your sorry ass, you hairless monkey, if you rip the seal off. There is still time."-_

_Naruto figured he had heard wrong the first time; he turned his hurt to anger and yelled back:_

_-"Like hell I'll let you free, you ugly furball. I may have failed to save Sasuke for Sakura-chan and screwed up, but I'm still a ninja of Konoha, and I'd rather die than let you loose to attack the village again! Yondaime trusted me with this and I'll do this one thing right, at least…"-_

_The last part was said in a murmur, but the demon could hear the resigned determination behind those words. And that was dangerous for its survival. Immediately, it hit the jail with its powerful claws, snapping Naruto out of his funk._

_-"I will not die just because you're just a pathetic failure, brat. Besides, you cannot die either. Don't you want to protect those so-called precious people of yours? That pink-haired banshee you let abuse you all the time?"-_

_Naruto glared at the Kyübi, and it knew it had stuck a chord, so it went for broke:_

_-"Do I need to remind you that the snake will burn your precious mud hole to the ground, and that once he gets those accursed sharingan eyes he'll be that much more dangerous? If you die here instead of listening to me, you'll be condemning them to death."-_

_-"You can't do shit about it either, furball. Or do I need to remind YOU of the sharingan shutting your power down?"-_

_The Kyübi grinned even more, now the little pale monkey was listening for once._

_-"It may be so, that blasted doujutsu has made me do things I don't care to do several times in the past. But I have the perfect solution for both of us. I'll make you a deal kid. That way I can save your life, despite the sharingan and the seal, and you can go save your little village"-_

_Naruto frowned, looking suspiciously at the giant kitsune trapped behind bars._

_-"You think I'm that dumb? The moment I let you go out of the seal you'll betray me"-_

_-"Do not presume of knowing me, you puny ape. I'm the Kyübi no kitsune, the most powerful of the tailed demons. My freely given word is binding law to me, brat. And not even this stupid prison can keep me from fulfilling a binding contract, once done. So listen carefully, because this is a chance you're never going to get again._

_You'll give me authority to reach outside the seal and I'll fix your body. And I'll remake you in the best way I possibly can, because as you're right now, you're quite pathetic, and that is quite humiliating to me; you'll be faster, stronger, smarter, and you'll be a jinchüriki that will not drag my name in the mud all the time. Secondly, since I cannot help being controlled by the sharingan, I'll make you impervious to it; I've dealt with it enough to have figured a defense mechanism, so even if I can't rebuild myself at least you will be able to repay me for saving your scrawny ass by killing all the sharingan wielders. What do you say, brat? This is a chance to save yourself and all the hairless monkeys in that village of yours."-_

_Naruto sat again, mindless of the dirty water, and, for once, began to think hard. On one hand he could die and let Sakura-chan, Iruka-sensei, Konohamaru, Tsunade-baa-chan, Ero-Sennin, the Ichirakus, Kakashi-sensei and the rest of his friends at the mercy of Orochimaru's revenge. He had almost crippled the village and murdered his beloved Sandaime-jiji already, how much worse could he do with the sharingan eyes? He was not enough of a fool to doubt Sasuke's intentions by now. He was going to kill his brother and then give the snake sannin the tools to burn Konoha to the ground. On the other hand, make a deal with the most powerful of the tailed demons, the same beast that had attacked Konoha, killed many of its citizens and caused all the hardships he had to endure all his life._

_The demon hit the bars of its prison to draw his attention, and growled:_

_-"We don't have much time, brat. You're practically dead, already, so go ahead and accept!"-_

_Naruto heard the clear desperation in its voice and an epiphany came to his mind. So he did what he did best, he launched himself head first into the situation and trusted his instincts to get by:_

_-"I have conditions, furball. And you will accept them, because you're more afraid of dying than I am. First, you must swear you won't make me your puppet, or take control of me, or any of that stuff. You'll go back to your cage after you're done, with the seal as strong as ever. Second, I remain a human being. No demonic kitsune body or anything like that. Third, you won't mess with my mind, won't change my memories, or likes, or other stuff. And if you reach out of the seal, it will be a one time only; it's not like I'll give you permission to go on a stroll whenever you like"-_

_-"You're a clever little brat, aren't you? Those conditions are acceptable, but I must say you could benefit if I made you smarter. At least, I will give you a brain that is better than that underdeveloped peanut you have in that thick skull of yours. Maybe that way you won't get killed again so soon. So, as the agreement stands, touch the seal and said, 'I accept'"-_

_Naruto rose slowly, trying desperately to think of another possibility he could have missed. Once he was upon the seal, and about to touch it, he remembered something:_

_-"Hey, but I won't run around killing people with sharingan eyes for you. I'll kill only those that oppose Konoha. No way I'm letting you take it out against Kakashi-sensei"-_

_The demon growled, and hit the cage with one of its tails:_

_-"You hairless ape! The sharingan is an affront against me! That accursed eye that presumes of making me a puppet must be exterminated!... fine, have it your way. Betrayal runs in the blood of that blasted clan, so sooner or later you'll end up killing all of them anyway. Besides, the eye your sensei has is flawed; I can allow it to exist, since it has no power over me"-_

_-"So, do I have your word that you won't use this chance to escape or gain a control of some kind over me?"-_

_-"You have it, brat. I'll accept the conditions of the deal, but remember them well. Once I find a way to get out of this prison, I'll make you pay for each one of them"-_

_Naruto didn't bother to answer, since the darkness was encroaching around them, surely signifying the end of the extra time the Kyübi had managed to gain them. Taking a deep breath and praying to whatever Kami that cared to listen to let him make the right choice, he touched the seal and mumbled:_

_-"I accept"-_

* * *

End Flashback

* * *

Naruto finished her tale, and moved one of her pieces in the game board. They had continued to play; neither of them paying real attention to the game, and Shikamaru moved his piece to a winning position. He held still for a while, just thinking things over, and Naruto kept the silence, waiting for the Nara genius to say something. Finally, he did:

-"I think you covered your bases pretty well. I don't see how the Kyübi could take advantage of your deal to escape the Yondaime's seal. So, a new brain, you say?"-

-"Things are clearer to me now. I can understand stuff that was too complicated for me before, and I don't have trouble with theoretic stuff like I did in the past. Plus, my memory is way better than before. As far as we can tell, my personality didn't change at all"-

Shikamaru nodded, and pointed out her shogi game was quite good, and that he still could see the same brash way of fighting without a care for safety that the old Naruto always showed. He began to ask seemingly random questions, mostly about the past, their time together at the shinobi academy. Naruto answered, and finally Shikamaru declared himself satisfied. Naruto was Naruto, as far as he could tell.

-"Thank you for helping me with this, Shikamaru-kun. Ero-Sennin did just about the same, but there was only so much he could ask about my past. It is good to hear more people convinced I am me, since I probably couldn't tell by myself if the furball had changed me somehow"-

After that, the conversation derived in more relaxed stuff, and Naruto found out she was the only one of the rookie twelve that was still a genin. Once she said her goodbyes and rose to leave, Shikamaru said something else:

-"You realize that there are all kinds of wild tales running around the village about you making deals with the demon, right? It will make very difficult for you to advance as a ninja. You will never lack opposition from the village."-

Naruto turned to look at her friend over her shoulder with a small smile on her lips.

-"A Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village, the one that protects everyone. Someday I will be the strongest and protect everyone, Shikamaru-kun, I promise you that. I don't need a pointy hat to do it. But one should never lose hope, ne?"-

And she left, leaving Shikamaru in his house, making plans for the future and mumbling about troublesome blondes making him work, but with a small smile of his own.

* * *

While the real Naruto had a lengthy conversation in the Nara clan house, another blonde buxom girl dressed in a simple blue dress was strolling down the artisans square, one of the parks of the village where the craftsmen of all kinds of professions met, and one could hire their services. Ignoring the glares of some people, she walked on, looking for a particular man; but when she stopped to look around, a kid of nine or ten years approached her.

By his clothing, she realized he was most likely attending the ninja academy. He stood in front of her, looking over his shoulders at several other kids that were looking from around a big tree trunk, making go ahead signs with their hands. He turned to her, and asked:

-"Hey, lady. I-it is true what t-they say? Are you really a… a demon?"-

Naruto looked at the kid, who was ready to bolt, and at the people around them, who had frozen in their tracks, everyone waiting for her answer. Since she had told her friends the truth, she had asked the Godaime Hokage to revoke the law the Sandaime had passed and forbid the truth to be spoken. And the news had run faster than the Yondaime's fabled **Hiraishin** technique. Everybody was talking about it how she was a girl now, and the reprieve from the glares she had gotten upon arriving had quickly gone down the toilet once the villagers learned of it. Rumors were flying all over the village, but this kid had been the first one to come to her with it, so she guessed he deserved to hear about it first-hand:

-"No, kid, but I do have a demon trapped in my belly. The Kyübi itself, in fact"-

-"Really? Cool! So it means you're more powerful than the Kyübi? Is it like a pet, or something?"-

Now that was an approach she had never heard anyone taking before! She smiled widely at the boy, and ruffled his dark hair a little, and told him:

-"No, kiddo, I'm not stronger than the furball. Not yet, anyways. It was Yondaime-sama that outsmarted the fox and trapped it in my belly, when I was a baby. And it is not a pet; think of it like a criminal in prison. It is behind bars and everything"-

The kid turned around and said goodbye before yelling:

-"Awesome! Bye, lady! Did you hear that, guys? Next time we play ninja, I'm gonna be Yondaime-sama and some of you will be demons so I'll trap you in someone's belly!"-

The kids scrambled, running off in direction of the academy, and Naruto could hear a girl saying:

-"Hey, no fair! I wanna be Yondaime too! Why don't you are the demon instead? That way we can trap you in Kiro's belly. Since he's an Akimichi, maybe your big head will fit in!"-

Naruto kept walking, smiling widely and ignoring the cold looks she got from most of the people around her. It was nice to see that maybe there was a chance the people of the village would stop seeing her as the Kyübi reincarnated. If only everyone could see her through the eyes of those kids. She was pulled out of her wishful thinking, however, when she saw the man she was looking for. Very tall, and with a bushy black beard with a white streak on one side, he was hard to miss. She approached the man, who was sitting in a stool, chatting with several younger men around him, and asked:

-"Excuse me, are you Keichi-san?"-

-"That'd be me, missy. What can I do for ya?"-

-"Old man Tazuna told me to look you up, said you were a super-awesome mason, his words"-

The big man, Keichi, laughed, along with those around him. Then, he noticed her whiskered cheeks, and remembered the tale of the improbable gender change the Kyübi brat, Uzumaki Naruto, had undergone. He stood, and said to her:

-"I am Keichi, mason from Nami no Kuni. The lads be me crew. Me and me boys are not super-awesome, as the old bat says, but we are good enough. It is me honor to meet ya, Uzumaki-san"-

-"I am pleased to meet you too, Keichi-san. I have need of a mason's services, and I was wondering if you could help me. The place where I live needs some repairs and I would like you to give it a look and tell me if you're willing to work on it. I can pay you well"-

-"Don't worry about the prices, missy. For you, we will give you special fare, and you can pay whenever you're able. It is the least we can do for you, after you helped our country so much"-

He gave his hand to Naruto, who gladly took it. She could clearly hear the other craftsmen around whisper between them at the big man's words. Unsurprisingly, they were not happy that the bearded man was willing to work for her, and with special prices, no less. They headed for the border of the small park, when an old man, already balding, approached the bearded bricklayer. He sent a dirty look at Naruto and said to Keichi.

-"I'm sorry, Keichi-san, but we will be in need your spot beginning tomorrow. Sorry."-

The balding man turned and fled, looking over his shoulder as if waiting for Naruto to go on a killing rampage after him. Keichi and Naruto left the park, the other few men from Keichi's group following them, and when the group was already in the street, Naruto said:

-"I'm sorry if dealing with me causes you trouble with the village people, Keichi-san. I suppose you had already heard what the people say about me, so I will not get offended if you decide not to take the job"-

-"Nonsense, missy, poisonous words don't have a hold on me and me boys. It would be mighty ungrateful from us if we didn't help ya when ya need it. More than fighting bandits, you gave hope back to our country, missy, and we Nami no Kuni lads will never forget that. If that causes us a bit of a trouble with business, well, it is their loss; we are some of the best masons out there. Besides we can cook mighty fine by ourselves, right lads?"-

-"You said it, boss. We can perfectly well care for ourselves until it's time to go back to Nami in the summer"-

Touched by their display of gratitude, Naruto told them:

-"Tell you what. I'll give you standard rates for the job, and not a yen less. You can use the empty apartments to bunk in if you get any trouble at the place you're staying at. In return you will take the job with the modifications to the building I've planned, which most likely will take until summer to finish"-

They had arrived to the apartment building Naruto owned at this point, and they were looking at the ground floor. She began to explain them all the modifications to the upper apartments she had planned to do, and Keichi followed, taking notes. After that, they worked up a budget, and Keichi assured Naruto that he would take care of the supplies. After they had finished, she looked at the group of men that were already discussing how to start their work, and told them:

-"Say, it is a bit late already. How do you guys feel about some delicious ramen for a meal? If you want to get the best ramen ever, I know just the right place"-

* * *

The room was poorly illuminated, only a pair of candles in a simple wooden table provided with some feeble light. The wax was already half-spent, and only the utter lack of wind kept the small candles burning. Utatane Koharu drowned a snort; it seemed that Danzö's fascination with theatrics was as strong as ever. Her old teammate and fellow council member, Mitokado Homura stood next to her, waiting for the third assistant to this "special meeting" to arrive. Soon, they could hear a cane making booming sounds in the empty stone chamber, and a figure stepped into the small lighted area of the candles.

-"Welcome, councilors. Have you thought about what we discussed in our last meeting?"-

-"Of course we have, Danzö. So far, our eyes and ears have no proof that the Uzumaki situation is getting out of control. The girl has progressed some, but well within expectations."-

Homura answered, accommodating his glasses with one hand.

-"That is one more reason we should arrange to secure it, before it becomes… complicated. Imprisonment should suffice; it should be easy enough to arrange that. At the very least, we need to restrict its movements to within the village so we can keep it under strict vigilance. We cannot take any chances with it."-

Koharu answered this time, following the argument line she and Homura had discussed previously.

-"Imprisonment is too risky. She enjoys the favor of Tsunade, and is still under the tutorship of Jiraiya. Both of them would create more problems than I care to deal with. Besides, she has the eye of several clan heads, and that cannot be overlooked. For now, we should maneuver simply to restrict her movements; the Akatsuki by itself can assure Tsunade will agree to that. Nothing more daring would be prudent at the moment"-

Danzö made a show of scratching his scarred chin, as if considering an angle he hadn't previously thought. Yes, still a fascination for theatrics despite all this years, Koharu though, keeping a little smile from forming in her face. Then, the old war hawk said:

-"Agreed. You will convince Tsunade of restricting its movements to within the village. In the meantime I'll keep seeding the village with the adequate… information, so the population remains favorably predisposed. Once we can find something else to draw the attention of the clan heads with, we can make some more… fitting arrangements."-

Both members of the Konoha council nodded and turned to leave the dark place, disgusted with the stagnate air they were forced to breathe down there, when Danzö's voice reached them:

-"None of this would be required if you had helped me acquire it back when I first suggested. Konoha would have had a flawless weapon by now."-

Koharu glanced back only to find Danzö had already retreated into darkness. Not bothering to reply to this last comment, the councilors made their way back up to ground level through the tortuous, labyrinthine corridors and passages they had come to know by heart. Not even once, they bothered to wonder how is that they found themselves agreeing with Danzö in all things recently, when in their younger days their philosophies of what was best for Konoha were more in line with Sarutobi's own, which in turn were diametrically opposed to Danzö's. Koharu, however, did wonder to herself if Danzö always spoke of the Uzumaki girl as an "it" because he saw her as the demon or as a tool to be used.

The old war hawk, still in the darkness of the stone chamber, allowed himself to smile a little. Finally, he turned and began to walk away, his cane echoing in the stone with each step, and he signaled the root ANBU member that had been waiting to deliver his message since before the councilmen arrived. The faithful servant spoke his piece, informing Danzö of the nature and diversity of the skills it had shown during its training and that after eating, it had gone to the Nara household, presumably to speak with the heir.

Once Danzö nodded in acceptance, the unnamed root ANBU shunshin'ed away, and Danzö left through one of his many safety routes, his mind already working over plans and contingencies to capture it, once the time came. No use to be unprepared and be in the need to rush half-matured plans along.

Back in the dark, vacated chamber, a quiet puffing sound could be heard in the otherwise absolute silence, and a small amount of smoke drifted upwards among the metallic pipes of the ceiling. And a smiling whiskered girl, up above in the streets of Konoha grinned after leaving Shikamaru's house. Yep, Ero-Sennin's peeping technique still stood undefeated.

* * *

Naruto barged into the Hokage's office, yelling a "good afternoon baa-chan!" to the blonde Hokage that made a vein pop in her head. Deftly sidestepping the automatic response in the shape of a flying paperweight aimed at her head, Naruto waved to Kakashi and Shizune who were already in the room and said:

-"You sent for me, baa-chan?"-

Naruto had decided not to come immediately to the Hokage upon listening in on the old bats in the underground complex and was considering going to see if Gai-sensei's team was in town. She had promised Tenten-chan to assist her with her moving target practice, and since her return she had found it was so much fun to try and get a rise of the ever-stoic Neji-kun. It was almost as much fun as making dog-breath's blood boil with his own hormones. But when she had decided to go hunt team 9, an ANBU had come and called her to the Hokage office.

Tsunade glared at the black-and-orange clad girl, and huffed. The brat was faster, or she was too predictable. She cleared her throat and spoke:

-"Naruto, you have a mission. We just received an urgent message from Suna; they are requesting the assistance of our best poison specialist, since the brother of the Kazekage was poisoned in battle last night and they don't have anyone skilled enough to deal with the situation. I've decided to send Shizune, she is the best we can do when it comes to poison. Kakashi and you will serve as escort detail and accompany her there and back."-

Shizune blushed a bit at the praise of her mentor and mother figure, and Naruto noticed she was not wearing her usual dark kimono, but a dark blue ninja outfit with overlong sleeves that covered her hands, and a standard jönin vest. Naruto went into business mode, and just nodded her understanding.

-"You're to leave immediately and make all haste possible to reach Suna. Every minute counts on this mission. You can take it easy in the way back. And Naruto; you need to be very careful during this trip. The message said the Kazekage's brother was poisoned by a member of Akatsuki. I wouldn't send you of all people in this particular mission, but we don't really have the luxury of time. Dismissed"-

Naruto stiffened a little at those words. The Akatsuki had already moved against Suna? She began to worry but quickly stamped down the feeling, even if it didn't disappear completely. If they were hurt, she would know already, she had made sure of that. Nevertheless, Kankuro needed urgent help, and the Konoha shinobi had to hurry. When Shizune and Kakashi shunshin'ed out of the office, Naruto paused a second and asked:

-"Say, baa-chan, about the thing I asked you about…"-

-"I've reviewed Konoha's legislation about it, and the current treaties we have, and I found nothing against it. You have authorization to do as you asked"-

Tsunade answered. So Naruto wasted no more time in leaving the office, and the trio headed towards the village gates at full speed.

They moved for almost an hour at the prodigious speed only shinobi could reach among the gigantic trees that covered most of the land in the hearth of Hi no Kuni; Naruto was looking for a good clearing when she spotted a person walking on the road ahead, in the same direction they were traveling. She recognized Temari's hairdo immediately, and she thought it was providential the Suna ambassador had chosen just this day to return home. Making a sign to Kakashi to alert him of her plans, she deviated from their path towards the dirt road the civilians used, and shouted:

-"Temari-nee! Heads up!"-

Sabaku no Temari was taking her sweet time to walk down her food after eating at the restaurant in the little village a couple hours walking out of Konoha. She knew this route by heart now, and while she would always prefer the great dunes of her home country, she had to admit that the picture that Hi no Kuni countryside presented was nice in its own way. She heard her name shouted in a familiar voice and her head whipped in the direction it came from only for her to see a blur of yellow, black and orange, and next thing she knew, she was being carried in the arms of a blonde, whiskered girl shorter than herself.

-"Thanks for the ride, Naruto, but I can manage by myself quite well, you know?"-

-"No time to complain, Temari-nee. We're heading to Suna because the Akatsuki attacked and Kankuro-nii was poisoned."-

The Suna kunoichi's eyes widened at that declaration, and she looked to the other ninjas present. Shizune nodded in confirmation, and added:

-"As far as we know Suna itself is ok, as well as Kazekage-dono. It seems the Akatsuki's attack was repelled successfully, but Kankuro-san was poisoned during their retreat. We don't have any more details"-

Temari jumped off Naruto's arms and began to jump through the trees with her own legs.

-"At this rate we will take today and all of tomorrow to reach home, maybe more if a sandstorm brews up. Do you think we can make it in time for Kankuro?"-

Before Shizune could try to answer Temari's question, Naruto made the hand sign to stop. Her teammates stopped immediately out of habit, but with questioning looks. Naruto just jumped down to a big clearing they were skirting, and said:

-"Well arrive today, Temari-nee"-

She bit her thumb to draw blood and she launched on a short sequence of hand signs, calling out loudly: **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**! Then an enormous smoke cloud filled the area, and when it disappeared, the clearing was filled with a gargantuan desert toad, of a light brown coloring, and with a Naginata strapped to its back by a wide belt. It was not as big as Gamabunta, but it was close enough to not matter, and it looked down at the ninja gathered at its feet. It saw the shinobi gathered at its feet and said in a booming voice:

-"Good day, Naruto-chan. Long time no see! What can I do for you?"-

-"Good day to you too, Gamakaku-san. We have an emergency and we need to head into the desert, towards Suna, as fast as possible. Can you please give us a ride?"-

The gigantic amphibian laughed loudly, and pointed with its webbed finger at its head.

-"Sure thing, Naruto-chan. I, Gamakaku, as the powerful fighting desert toad will not let you down. Hop on, everyone, and get a firm grip, it will be a bumpy ride"-

Naruto jumped to the toad's head, and sat in the uppermost part, with her legs crossed. The other three shinobi doubted a bit, it was not everyday a summon was so unmindful of having strangers on their backs, but Naruto motioned for them to hurry up. The three settled around Naruto, using their chakra to get a firm grip of the toad's skin, and the brown giant rose and hopped a bit. Once it was sure its passengers were properly secured, it said in its deep, rumbling voice:

-"Very well, everyone, we're leaving. Be sure not to fall"-

And it jumped with a force that surprised the three jönin in its back, pressing them all against its skin with the sheer pressure of the wind over them, while Naruto laughed with glee like a little kid in an amusement park, her pigtails whipping in the wind. Kakashi thought that watching his sensei ride Gamabunta-sama's head while the toad boss jumped around fighting in no way prepared him to do the same, and Shizune mused that riding a slug was a lot more peaceful. After the third or fourth jump, however, both Kakashi and the kunoichi in the group had gotten a grasp of the movement pattern, and could sit properly. When they, in one prodigious jump, cleared the border of Kaze no Kuni in one go and landed in the desert amidst a shower of sand, the great desert toad asked:

-"Say, Naruto-chan; are we going to fight? Because I'd really enjoy a little brawl right now"-

-"I don't know, Gamakaku-san. We are heading to give medical attention to a poisoned person, but it may be possible his attackers are still lurking around"-

-"Ha! Let them come! I will chop them down for you, Naruto-chan!"-

The toad bellowed, and in another powerful push of its haunches cleared a good piece of desert terrain in one jump, while Naruto smiled and patted its head.

-"Thank you, Gamakaku-san. I appreciate it"-

With another laugh, the desert toad headed into the desert and towards the village hidden in the sand.

* * *

Haruno Sakura said her goodbyes to Tsunade and left the office for the day, closing softly the door behind her. The Godaime Hokage just stared at the closed door for a bit, and then stood and began to pace around nervously in her office, with her hands first clasped at her back, then crossed between her bountiful breasts, then clasped again, all the while with a deep frown marring her pretty face.

She even bit her lip a little; the worry of having sent Naruto directly into Akatsuki's clutches was getting to her. At first she had thought that the chances of the missing-nin organization remaining around Suna itself in wait to ambush Naruto were slim to none, but then doubts had begun to worm their way into her thoughts. What if they had planned it all from the start to get Naruto out of Konoha? What if the document asking for help itself was a fake, after all, Orochimaru had successfully replaced the Kazekage himself for a period of time prior to the failed invasion, it stood to reason that the Akatsuki could manage something similar at one point or another.

Remorse was slowly making its way to her heart, and she was already going over the shinobi teams that were in the area, maybe as far as Cha no Kuni and Kawa no Kuni, and divert them to support Naruto. The members of the old Team 9 were already near Kawa no Kuni itself, and Tokubetsu jönins Shiranui Genma and Mitarashi Anko were near enough to reach Suna before Naruto's group had to come back. She sat down in front of her desk to write the necessary orders and send them by hawk, when the memory of her last conversation with Jiraiya filled her mind and stopped her pen:

* * *

Flashback

* * *

_Tsunade was pouring sake over a couple of drinking glasses in her Hokage office while Jiraiya sat in one of the guests chairs, writing something in that little notepad of his. She took one of the glasses and drank it in one gulp, and refilled it again. Then, Jiraiya put the notepad on the floor, bit his thumb and smeared a drop of blood over the paper. He made a rather long seal sequence to activate the seal he had written over the notepad and with a small puff of smoke, a long chain of seals crawled from the paper in eight lines over the floor, walls and ceiling of the office. He took the glass that had been served to him and drank it. Tsunade already had the second one to her lips, and when she finished it, she said:_

_-"Why did you sealed the office off, you old pervert?"-_

_-"Because I left some stuff out of the report, and you need to know. Tell me, Tsunade, do you remember that time when I told you about the prophecy the Great Toad Sage told me?"-_

_-"Yes, I remember it, the stuff about your student having the power to save or destroy the ninja world. Don't tell me you still hold on to such nonsense"-_

_-"I don't need to hold into such nonsense, as you said, Hime. I've seen it with my own eyes"-_

_Jiraiya said in a wistful tone that was very uncommon in him and Tsunade's eyes widened in surprise. She looked at her old teammate, who was looking at the faces of the Hokages through the window of her office, and he sighed deeply, before speaking again:_

_-"Do you remember Minato-kun, Hime? Such a talented boy and such a big heart too. For a time I thought that he stopping the Kyübi was the act the prophecy spoke about. But neither that nor the ninja war he won measured up to the task. The world kept on rolling, and his mark on it, although a large one did not steer the world into a different path._

_Before him, I had another student that I thought would be the one. Remember the orphans from Ame?"-_

_Tsunade only nodded, holding her cup to her lips_

_-"One of those children had the rin'negan, hime."-_

_Tsunade spat her sake and looked at Jiraiya with incredulity:_

_-"The rin'negan? As in the fabled doujutsu the Sage of the Six Paths possessed?"-_

_-"The same. But Nagato didn't come to fulfill the prophecy either. I lost track of him some time ago, and I don't even know if he is still alive. I had forgotten about the prophecy at all, so sure I was I would never have another apprentice; and then Naruto came. At first, I agreed with old man Sarutobi way of thinking, and I kept myself away from Naruto to keep her identity hidden, but I see now it was only an excuse. I am her godfather, Tsunade, I was entrusted by Minato and Kushina with her legacy, and I did nothing to help her when the village treated her like a monster. It took her dying and a good yelling afterwards for me to realize that no amount of security justified her suffering; she had a very cruel childhood and I did nothing about yet, she's so full of hope and goodwill and trust. She forgave me when I myself would not."-_

_Tsunade nodded, understanding a little what Jiraiya was trying to tell her. She commented:_

_-"I thought I recognized the tantö blade Naruto carries. It is Kushina's, is it not?"-_

_Jiraiya nodded, finished his sake and poured himself some more. He continued:_

_-"Yes, it is the Kuronami. Kushina gave it to me for safekeeping when she was pregnant, and I returned it to Naruto as I should have done long ago. That blade is one more proof Naruto is the child of destiny."-_

_Tsunade snickered, and took another drink, before saying:_

_-"You're getting senile in your old age, you pervert. It is good she got her mother's blade and all, that way she has a connection to her family. But, destiny? What does it has to do with destiny?"-_

_-"Well, for one, how good are the chances of finding someone to teach you the kenjutsu style that goes with the blade? She found an Uzumaki, Hime. Of all the times Kushina looked for survivors of her family, with Minato's help and mine, it took Naruto to take the blade in a stroll into town to find a survivor of the Uzumaki clan. It took five minutes and her smile to get the old man to agree and teach her. And that before finding he is her great-uncle"-_

_Tsunade gasped. It was long since believed that Uzumaki Kushina had been the lone survivor of the ruling clan of Uzu no Kuni, and that, apart from her son turned daughter, it had died with the kunoichi, virtually exterminated by the Kyübi. Jiraiya turned from the window and sat in front of his Hokage, taking another drink._

_-"But I don't mean just the blade, Tsunade. After the Kyübi resurrected her, her body and mind became… ideal, for the lack of a better word. When she trains, she progresses amazingly fast. She does not need to do heavy training to stay in shape; a little morning exercise is enough. She doesn't only learns jutsu, she understands them; she understands her Kage Bunshin so well she has made special taijutsu clones with a complex chakra matrix that repairs itself after being hit, as long as the chakra supply lasts; you saw them in action against Kakashi. She is studying the füinjutsu notes her father wrote, and I have no doubt she will surpass me, him, and every other seal master soon. I calculate she scored around a hundred years of training via Kage Bunshin during our trip; Tsunade, she's going to be the strongest shinobi ever by the time she hits twenty."-_

_Tsunade looked suitably impressed by Jiraiya's tirade and was about to express that, but he continued on with a smile._

_-"And yet I'm not talking about power, but about the ability to change the world. Naruto has it, I've seen it. Things happened during our trip that I cannot tell since I'm bound to secrecy, but I can tell you this: as of today, Uzumaki Naruto, a genin ranked kunoichi, has the backing of half of the shinobi forces of the world. And I'm not including Konoha in that count."-_

_Tsunade looked at Jiraiya with incredulity written all over her face, waiting for Jiraiya to burst out laughing at his joke so she could clobber him and launch him against the wall, but he just looked her in the eye with a serious look and said:_

_-"Naruto has taken upon herself to end the threat of Akatsuki and I believe she will succeed. By the time she is done, I'm sure she will have changed the world. Mark my words, Tsunade-hime; Naruto IS the child of destiny."-_

* * *

End Flashback

* * *

That conversation had left Tsunade with more doubts than was healthy to have, and Jiraiya had stubbornly refused to explain himself further, citing a cryptic "I'm sworn to secrecy" as the reason. Not even threatening him with banishment from the local onsen had swayed his mind and that in on itself was worrisome, Jiraiya forsaking his perverted ways was akin of a green sun rising from the north tomorrow morning.

But, somehow, that conversation had reassured the blonde Hokage that Naruto could take care of herself, and she mussed that with an elite jönin like Kakashi and her own apprentice watching her back, Naruto was going to be safe enough. So, instead of writing the orders to redirect the ninja teams in the area to join Naruto and company, she began to fill the forms needed to field-promote Naruto to chünin status. After all, with Jiraiya's testimony and what she witnessed in the spar with Kakashi, the whiskered girl more than deserved the rank. She signed the document, and went to the Hokage mansion to sleep, thinking that Naruto would be nicely surprised by the shinobi vest that would be waiting for her return.

* * *

Hello there. As I said before, the training trip itself is not canon at all, and I promise there is a reason for Jiraiya's words, which will be explained with flashbacks (not that I like them, or anything =P ) where appropriate.

Keichi is an OC that will be of no consequence, you can safely forget about him. I think. And Gamakaku is a OC toad, because I needed a desert toad (I remember quite clearly Gamabunta complaining loudly of being summoned over salt water, because it is an amphibian; I don't want to think what he would say about the sandy deserts of Suna) big enough to carry them and neither Gamahiro nor Gamaken fit the bill =P

See ya next chapter. Waaaaa!

Jutsu:**  
Hiraishin**: Thunder Flying God**  
Töton Jutsu**: Transparent Escape Technique**  
Kuchiyose no Jutsu**: Summoning Technique

Places:**  
Nami no Kuni**: Land of Waves. Island at the east of Hi no Kuni, where Naruto and team 7 fought Sabuza and Haku, and the Great Naruto Bridge was built.**  
Kaze no Kuni**: Land of Wind. West of Hi no Kuni, it is the place where Sunagakure no Sato (the village hidden in the sand) is located.**  
Cha no Kuni**: Land of Tea. It is a peninsula directly south of Hi no Kuni.**  
Kawa no Kuni**: Land of Rivers. It is squeezed between Hi no Kuni to the east and Kaze no Kuni to the west, while Ame no Kuni is directly north.**  
Uzu no Kuni**: Land of Whirlpools. No fixed place in the map, I've been thinking of setting it in the peninsula that grows east of Hi, south of Nami and points towards Mizu, since the stuff near Kumo already got named =P


	4. Meetings

Disclaimer: I wish I did own Naruto but sadly this is not the case.

* * *

The Suna shinobi guarding the sole entrance through the outer wall of the village hidden in the sand were on high alert. The night before, the village had been attacked by the Akatsuki organization, and the nighttime group of guards had been decimated. Not by the dangerous missing-nins themselves, but by a traitor among their ranks.

Yüra-sama, a member of Suna's ruling council, whose task was to advice the Kazekage himself, had revealed himself as a traitor and spy, and had taken the gate guards by surprise, slaughtering most of them. If it were not by the special shinobi group under Baki-sama's orders that patrolled the village in random patterns since a few months ago, the traitorous councilman would have managed to kill all of the guards and the Akatsuki would have been allowed to strike at the heart of the village unhindered; it had been bad enough as it was.

As it stood, the replacement guards were skittish and jumped at their own shadows, and now more than ever, since the sun was about to set, the first night after the attack aimed at their Kazekage. So it was no surprise their attentiveness paid off when they easily noticed a cloud of sand rising over the eastern horizon, too localized to be the wind of the desert sunset and accompanied with a dull, barely heard thud, akin to a muffled, far off explosion. They scrambled for cover and to raise the alert when they saw a dark… something, shoot like a missile out of the sand cloud and land around the middle of the way to their position.

It jumped again towards them and at that distance they could recognize the features of the gargantuan, brown-skinned desert toad coursing through the air in a parabolic arc bound to end somewhere very near the village's entrance itself. The commanding officer of the garrison was about to raise the alarm when a hand stopped him. It was Baki, the right hand of the Kazekage himself who did so, and told him:

-"Stop that. They are allies from Konoha, requested by the Kazekage."-

He didn't made mention of the Konoha shinobi arriving a whole day earlier than anticipated, but the gigantic toad was a dead giveaway; there were only two shinobi capable of performing that particular summoning and both were into the confidence of their leader. Baki jumped off the watchtower embedded into the outer wall itself to receive their allies.

The huge desert amphibian landed barely fifty feet away from the wall itself, sending a shower of sand up and away from its landing place. By the time the sand settled back onto the ground, four shinobi had jumped off the toad's head. It laughed with its booming voice, and said:

-"Next time you visit the mountain you should come visit my house, Naruto-chan. We'll have a spar, ok?"-

-"Sure thing, Gamakaku-san. I'll be sure to drop by and visit. See ya, and thanks for the ride"-

The toad waved goodbye and disappeared in a huge burst of smoke, leaving the four shinobi standing in front of Baki and under the watchful eyes of the guards, many of them twitching at the thought of sparring with the giant toad. The first kunoichi, with dirty blond hair in four ponytails, a dark battle kimono and a giant fan at her back was easily recognized as Sabaku no Temari, Suna jönin and older sister of their Kazekage. Almost equally recognized was the man standing next to her, with a Konoha headband covering his left eye, silver spiky hair and a Icha Icha novel on his hand; word of Konoha's infamous "Sharingan no Kakashi" had traveled far and wide, after all. The second kunoichi, in a standard Konoha uniform with extra long sleeves and short, dark brown hair was a classical beauty and yet went unrecognized, for very few shinobi knew the face of the Slug Princess apprentice, and none were among the observers. And finally, the second blonde of the group, sun-kissed hair tied in two pigtails and sporting a provocative black and orange outfit, she could be recognized by a few people in Suna, but of those only Baki was present.

Said shinobi bowed lightly to Temari, and said:

-"Welcome back, Temari. It is good to see you back and well."-

Baki acknowledged the presence of both Kakashi and Shizune, assuming correctly she was the medic-nin sent as per Gaara's request; and to the surprise of many of Suna and the two older Konoha ninja, turned to Naruto and bowed to her too:

-"Welcome to you too, Uzumaki-sama. I'm glad to see you made such a good time. Please, Kankuro is this way"-

Without further ado, the recently arrived shinobi jumped after Baki, who hurried towards one of the dome-like, sandstone buildings that were situated in the central zone of the village. Quickly, they made their way inside the several-stories building, realizing it was a medical facility, although Shizune's analytical eye could see it was sparsely equipped with the bare needs of an operative hospital.

Soon enough they found themselves in the intensive care unit, in a white, round room with two beds, one where Sabaku no Kankuro was lying, connected to a I.V. and a monitoring machine and the other with an older male; while a couple of medic-nins stood in a corner, examining a blood sample with a microscope. Temari hurried to her brother's side, and say that he was unconscious, feverish and sweated profusely. To Kakashi's surprise, Naruto went to the Suna shinobi's side and gave Temari a one-armed hug, since she seemed to be at the verge of tears.

Shizune immediately took control of the situation; she tucked up her sleeves and went over to the Suna medics and after finding out what they knew, which was nothing besides that it was a virulent and unknown poison, recruited their help to begin Kankuro's treatment with a medical jutsu of Tsunade's invention. She gently moved the blondes away from the bed and told Temari in a kind voice that she needed not to worry, that she was sure they could help her brother survive.

They gave the medic team wide berth to maneuver around the bed, and Baki took the chance to announce the rest of the newcomers that the Kazekage wished to see them as soon as possible. Since there was nothing they could do for Kankuro except to wait, Temari nodded and the group went to the fortress-like building in the very center of the village, the Sunspire, where the Kazekage's office and the council meeting chambers were located, among other facilities of the village's government body.

Baki took them all the way to the office's doors, knocked on it and announced them. They went in, and Kakashi took the measure of his surroundings, looking for threats and escape routes and the like, out of habit mostly. Sabaku no Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage was sitting behind his desk, just finishing a document; to his left was a girl with short, light brown hair, a Suna shinobi vest, dark purple blouse, a mini-skirt and a Suna hitai-ate around her neck. To Gaara's right were two other girls; the first one dressed much like the one in the left, only with long hair in a darker shade of brown, a bandana-style Suna hitai-ate and a longer skirt the main differences their appearance, but the second girl made Kakashi do a double take. Lime-green hair, pink eyes, deeply tanned skin and a set of white tank top, mini-skirt and arm warmers over mesh top and shorts; but it was not the exotic look of the girl that drew Kakashi's attention, but the fact that she sported a Takigakure hitai-ate tied to her right arm; Taki had no treaties with Suna that he knew of, Tsunade would love to know this.

The eyes of both girls at the Kazekage's right sparkled with what Kakashi thought was anticipation, while Gaara stood and welcomed them:

-"Welcome to Sunagakure. I am grateful you arrived as quickly as you did."-

-"It was no problem, Kazekage-sama. We came as soon as possible."-

-"I understand the medic-nin that arrived with you is already seeing to my brother and Toguro-san."-

-"Yes, Kazekage-sama. Shizune is the first apprentice of our Hokage and the best poison expert our village has. She will see to your shinobi."-

Gaara nodded, and looked to Naruto steadily. Kakashi thought he saw a shadow of a smile fight its way to his lips, but he only said:

-"Baki-san, make us private if you please."-

The half-masked Suna shinobi nodded and pulled a scroll out of his vest pockets. A bit of blood and a few hand seals later, and small, inky black symbols were crawling out of the scroll and into the floor, wall and ceiling in eight different directions; while Kakashi noted idly that it seemed to be the same style of sealing Jiraiya of the Sannin used regularly. Baki stood and said:

-"The seal is complete, Kazekage-sama."-

That seemed to be the clue the dark-skinned kunoichi was waiting for, as she grinned like the cat after the mouse, and before anyone could react, she was soaring through the air, tackling Naruto in a flawlessly executed flying glomp that, in another time and place, would have brought a prideful smile to a certain purple haired Amazon warrior. Kakashi blinked twice, seeing his blonde student pinned to the ground by the green-haired kunoichi, who was planting the mother of all the hot, French-styled kisses upon the whiskered Jinchüriki. And he blinked a couple more times for good measure, when he noticed Naruto returning the kiss with equal intensity while holding the other girl by the hips.

Finally the need for air overrode the Taki kunoichi's enthusiasm, and she let go of Naruto's mouth, taking a deep breath of air, just like her "victim" did. She landed a quick peck in Naruto's cheek and said:

-"I missed you a lot, Naru-chan"-

-"I've missed you too, Fü-chan."-

The girl known as Fü stood quickly and helped Naruto up, before turning to look at the rest of the gathered people, without letting go of Naruto's hand. The other girl at the right of the Kazekage walked over to Naruto and bowed politely, saying:

-"Welcome back, Naruto-sama"-

The sun-blonde girl grinned and used her free hand to pull the brunette into a hug.

-"Did you miss me, Sari-chan?"-

That made the Suna girl blush. Then Fü grinned and mock-whispered, making sure everyone heard her words:

-"Oh, yeah, Naru-chan. Sari-chan here missed you at nights… loudly."-

Now, that upgraded Sari's blush to neon red intensities, and she hid her face in Naruto's shoulder. The other girls in the room giggled at her predicament, and even Gaara allowed himself a tiny smirk, while Kakashi stood there being caught totally flat-footed for the first time in who-knows-how-long. Baki, however, seemed either used to or impervious to the situation and cleared his throat to call on everyone's attention. Everyone returned to a semblance of professionalism even if neither Fü nor Sari let go of the portions of Naruto they had claimed as their own. Gaara sat, and began to talk:

-"As you know, last night the village was attacked by the Akatsuki organization; more specifically, two members of said organization attempted a surprise assault on the village with myself as the target."-

-"I'm glad you're alright, Gaara-nii. So, care to tell us how the battle went?"-

The Kazekage nodded to acknowledge Naruto's words, and took a moment to collect his thoughts, before taking to narrate the confrontation:

* * *

Flashback

* * *

_Gaara was signing the last documents of the paperwork from the day, while Matsuri stood next to him, waiting with a patient smile for the Kazekage to finish his duties. She had worked extra hard to master the jutsu her mentor had showed her, earning the dinner he had promised her as motivation, and she intended to collect. Not that her Gaara-kun would try to sneak off of a promise, or anything, it was just that with all the tension they had been having this past weeks, both of them needed the break._

_Ever since Naruto, Fü and Jiraiya of the Sannin had appeared at Gaara's doorstep with news about the Akatsuki threat, the few shinobi that were of the red-head Kazekage's full confidence had been shouldering extra duties and responsibilities, herself included. It was not the amount of the tasks assigned, per se; it was more the emotional tension of being always in the lookout, waiting for an ambush, even when in your own home. Very taxing on the nerves and after a few weeks, she was down to the limits of her endurance. Oh well, nothing that a relaxing dinner with her Gaara-kun would not fix, she was sure._

_A bright, orange light accompanied by an explosion in the night ski took Matsuri out of her daydream about the stoic kage confessing his undying love to her over dinner and interrupted the very last signature said kage was writing. Both knew what the explosion meant; the color had just recently been added to the alert signals the gate guards had. Akatsuki's presence had been detected in the village, the dreaded yet expected attack from the criminal organization had come. Gaara stood, and said in his trademark emotionless tone to Matsuri:_

_-"I'll head out first. Go look for them and have them head to the roof, I'll meet with you there."-_

_He disappeared in a whirlwind of sand, while Matsuri nodded and ran out of the office, towards the guest quarters, with her eyes full of worry._

_Gaara appeared on the top of the Sunspire, the tallest tower in the village that grew from the center of the government building and gave it the name. He had chosen this place to locate the enemy quickly by sending his sand eyes all over the village but he didn't need to bother, a blonde shinobi sporting the signature black-with-red-clouds cloak of the Akatsuki was flying on top of a huge white bird of a minimalistic design, making wide circles over the village and raining small white things that exploded upon landing among the village. The shinobi were scrambling for cover and evacuating the civilians of the area, but the assault relented quickly when the sand of the Kazekage's gourd flew to chase the attacker._

_The Akatsuki member evaded the sand spear-like attack and turned with a grin to look at the Kazekage atop the tower; he was sporting an Iwagakure headband with a slash crossing it. He grinned and, forgetting about the people he was attacking, he headed over the Kazekage, making wide circles around him, higher even than the tower is which he stood. He laughed when he saw the Suna leader, wearing his white and green robes, sans the hat._

_-"Ha ha! I see you're not a coward that hides behind his lackeys. Do you know why we are here, hmmm?"-_

_Gaara didn't bother to reply to the Iwa missing-nin and stood there, with crossed arms, while the sand of his gourd regrouped around him and then chased after the Akatsuki ninja, trying to catch him. It divided itself in two, three or four flows of sand that tried to maneuver the strange white bird into a favorable position, but the bird was faster and the occupant released small white birds from his hands, which crashed into the sand and exploded, delaying its advance and thwarting its efforts._

_Gaara noticed the blonde pulling more of the white stuff, that looked like dough or clay, from a big bag under his cloak, and after being chewed by strange mouths placed in his hands, he launched it to the air, already shaped into the little birds. He laughed again while the new flock of dough birds made their way towards Gaara's position, forcing the sand to retreat and protect its master. The missing-nin shouted from his high perch:_

_-"Give it up already! You have no hope of winning! That sand of yours is no match for my art, yeah!"-_

_Gaara's response was to extend his arms in front of him, eyes closed in concentration, trusting his special sand to protect him, as he commanded the sand of the desert in the village and around it to obey his will. A big column of sand rose in the air, swirling like a flowing river around the young Kazekage, and its point took the form of a gigantic clawed hand, with the vein-like marks characteristic of Shukaku's manifestations; it immediately launched itself towards the Akatsuki flier, stretching thin to try and reach him, like an enormous arm made of sand._

_The blonde man grinned, this fight was not going to be that boring after all, maybe he'd have the chance to make a truly beautiful masterpiece this time. He weaved his way out of the path of the titanic sand claw with practiced ease, even if he had to admit that the sand was more of a threat now that Gaara's gesticulating hands were commanding its movement directly. About half of the special sand in the Kazekage's gourd flew towards the Akatsuki member and joined the chase, becoming a spear-like shard of compacted sand, and moving considerably faster than the giant claw itself; the blonde ninja realized the desert sand posed no real threat other than making it harder from him to evade the special sand. He focused on staying away from the flying shard of sand, using strategically placed explosions to do so. He took the time to yell at his opponent:_

_-"Ha! I told you already, you're no match for the art of the great Deidara-sama, yeah!"-_

_The man that identified himself as Deidara looked down towards the Kazekage and realized that he was starting to breath heavily; the spectacular and highly intimidating column of sand was taking its toll on the young redhead, and being completely useless in payment for all the chakra he was expending on it. Seriously, one would think that a supposed kage should have realized by now that the strategy was not working. Nevertheless, the blonde decided to take advantage of it, and prepare the next stage of his plan. _

_But before he could do that, his scope-enhanced left eye, highly trained to counter genjutsu realized something was not all that well with the Kazekage. He quickly realized that a genjutsu was at work here, and with a shout of "kai", he dispelled the technique's influence on him. Predictably, the hold of the technique over his senses disappeared, and he wondered at the utility of the illusion. Where the Kazekage was standing alone atop the tower, breathing heavily from expending so much chakra so quickly, in reality he was not breathing heavily at all, but he was in the exact same position the genjutsu showed him to be. And next to him stood two cute brunette girls, a short haired one whirling a jōhyō as if waiting for him to approach, and the long haired one holding her hands in a bird hand seal, likely the one that threw the genjutsu at him, eyes closed and the face frowning with concentration._

_Before Deidara could analyze the reasons to use a genjutsu that didn't concealed his opponent in any meaningful way, he felt a presence behind him. He looked over his shoulder to see a lime-green haired girl, with pink eyes boring into him, and he understood immediately what had happened, he was not a member of Akatsuki for his good looks after all. The genjutsu was not meant to conceal the Kazekage but this girl, who had likely used the giant column of sand to reach him up there. And before his body, let alone his mind could react, the impossibly fast, lightning coated fist of the tanned girl unleashed a volley of devastating punches on him at the yell of "__**Raiton: Heaven's Smashing Fist**__"._

_The attack not only broke some of his bones, but shocked and burned him, making him fall from the clay bird while his body convulsed uncontrollably, directly into the shard of sand that expanded like a net to catch him and collapsed around him, crushing the Akatsuki ninja before he could recover and defend himself._

_As it was, the moment the Iwa missing-nin was crushed under the sand, the white bird he had been riding into combat spiraled out of control, throwing the Taki kunoichi out of its back, which in retrospective might have saved her from serious injury, for the chakra that powered the bird went out of control and exploded, thankfully before it had fallen too much towards the village. Fü was thrown away from the force of the explosion, and thanks to Gaara's sand chasing after her and cutting her fall short, came out of the fight with nothing more than a slightly singed body._

_The sand deposited the girl atop the tower with Gaara, Matsuri and Sari, while the Kazekage returned the sand of the giant claw back to the desert, and the special sand flowed back to his gourd, leaving him a ring with the kanji for "blue" on it._

_-"It is done? We won?"-_

_Sari's hopeful eyes meet with Gaara's stoic gaze when he answered:_

_-"We know the Akatsuki travel in pairs. The other one must be around."-_

_An explosion resonated from the direction of the village's gate, and Fü grinned in that way that told Gaara she was going to be reckless again:_

_-"You killed this one, Gaara-kun. Next one is mine!"-_

_A quick sequence of hand seals and the pink-eyed girl whispered "__**Jinton: Flash Step Technique**__". Immediately after, she vanished from the tower, using the huge increase in speed of her bloodline's technique to make her way to the entrance of the village. The Kazekage mumbled something about exasperating, reckless women and said to Sari and Matsuri that they should head for the shelters, before disappearing with a sand Shunshin. Both girls looked at each other, nodded and jumped off the tower heading, predictably, towards the entrance of the village instead of the shelters._

* * *

End Flashback

* * *

-"By the time I arrived at the entrance area of the village, the other Akatsuki member had already fled, leaving behind two dead men and one poisoned. Baki was tending to the wounded and Kankuro gave chase, despite being ordered otherwise."-

Gaara finished his tale that had been spiced with small comments from the other participants. Then Fü added:

-"I went after them, but by the time I managed to catch up, Kankuro-san had already been poisoned. So I decided to bring him back to the village instead of risking lone pursuit."-

-"And it was well done, because the Akatsuki member that got away was none other than Akasuna no Sasori, the greatest puppetmaster ever to come from the Suna shinobi ranks. I was only lucky he hadn't poisoned me too before Gaara-sama and his team took down his partner, and he decided his goal was no longer achievable."-

Baki answered and both Naruto and Kakashi nodded in acknowledgement; the Suna jönin's intent on transmitting the danger represented by the missing-nin not lost to anyone. The Kazekage's voice filled the silence again:

-"Naruto, we will not be able to choose the battleground. They know full well that we will not forsake our village's security, and they will take advantage of that. Besides, Fü-san's presence has been revealed, and I doubt they will underestimate us yet again. We will need to prepare."-

Naruto locked gazes with her fellow Jinchüriki and nodded.

-"I've got some ideas. Let me tell you about it"-

* * *

In a damp, dark cave, somewhere away from prying eyes, a giant stone statue representing a nine-eyed humanoid head, neck and shoulders was resting against the deep end of the cave. In front of the statue, two stone hands in the same scale of the statue rose from the floor, fingers outstretched towards the stalactite-filled ceiling. On seven of those fingers, vaguely humanoid figures could be seen standing.

Vaguely humanoid because the heavy cloaks they were wearing allowed little beyond a head to be discerned, fact that didn't actually confirmed a humanoid underneath the cloak if you took into account the flytrap-like protrusions around one's head, or the hunched shape of a second one or the beady eyes and shark-like teeth of a third; well, the point was open to discussion. And the fact that six of the seven shapes were visible in a kaleidoscopic array of colors didn't help either.

They were, or rather, had been, humans, all of them. But I digress. The point is that only the hunchback figure of the group was of a normal color, black cloak with red clouds in it and a big stray hat with bells hanging around the borders, covering the face from view. Only two of the multicolored figures wore the hat, however, and one of them, the one with concentric circles in the pupils spoke in an authoritative tone:

-"Where is the Ichibi? And Deidara, for that matter"-

The hunchback answered in a raspy voice that bordered on hostile:

-"Deidara is dead. He was defeated and I judged too risky to try and take the Ichibi with all the village roused and ready."-

A slightly arched eyebrow was the only reaction from the man that had spoken first. Before anyone else could express their opinion about this bit of news, one way or another, he spoke again:

-"Care to explain to me how that happened?"-

-"Suna was warned. The Nanabi girl that dropped off the grid after giving the slip to Hidan in Taki no Kuni was there, it was her that took Deidara by surprise when he was fighting the Ichibi, and most likely is the one that warned the Kazekage. Not even Suna's council was aware of her presence within the village."-

The ring-eyed man frowned a little, and said:

-"That is curious. Taki has never been in particularly good terms with Suna. Why would they send their jinchüriki there?"-

He made a point to look at the… man, with the flytrap protuberances and he replied:

-"The leader of Takigakure has listed the jinchüriki as a missing-nin, and no one within the village had know of her whereabouts for a time now, not than most of them cared anyway."-

The ring-eyed man nodded and spoke again:

-"So the girl leaves her village and seeks refuge somewhere where she can use her information about us to buy it."-

The hunchback nodded and said:

-"Could be. It is pretty common knowledge that the Kazekage is a jinchüriki, and while not allies exactly, Taki and Suna have never been hostile to one another either."-

-"Then we will have to treat Suna with the same considerations we took Kirigakure. What about Deidara's ring?"-

The flytrap-man said:

-"The Kazekage has it. I will recover it as soon as possible"-

-"Good. We're two rings short already, and we can't afford to lose more. Sasori; you will keep Suna and the vessels under close watch while you wait for reinforcements to arrive and then you all will move to take both jinchüriki."-

The hunchback named Sasori nodded and then added:

-"There is a problem. Not 24 hours after our attack, the Kyübi jinchüriki showed up with a jönin team in tow. It is possible that Konoha will try to intervene if we make an assault to Suna like we did the Kiri operation."-

Then another of the figures spoke, this one's only distinctive feature a slashed Konoha headband.

-"The Kyübi jinchüriki and Konoha are going to be busy tracking down Orochimaru during the next few months. We can wait for them go have their hands full with the Sannin before moving against Suna."-

The ring-eyed man nodded, considering the options.

-"Yes, we will proceed with that plan. Once we have confirmation the conflict between Konoha and Orochimaru's forces has come to a head, we will move against Suna as planned."-

The multicolored figures disappeared quickly one after another, and only the hunchback remained. He jumped off the stone finger and began to walk towards the exit of the cave, his mind already going over scenarios and their pros and contras. A fleeting thought crossed his head about mourning somehow the passing of his partner, but it was dismissed as quickly as it came. It was just plain stupid for a missing-nin to think something along those lines. It was not like if the blonde Iwa-nin had been his friend, after all.

* * *

Since she had turned sixteen, Ichiraku Ayame usually went to shop for the supplies for the ramen stand of her family while her father, Teuchi, remained in the stand serving customers. She had always managed to get a little discount on the stuff, and besides, she liked the change of pace from the ramen cooking of everyday. Not that she disliked her job, mind you, the ramen stand was her life as it had been her fathers and her late mothers, and she loved it. But a little change of scenery was always welcome.

Since the day when Naruto had come back to the village and revealed her condition to her friends, the banning law on the whole affair had been lifted, and that had had some unexpected results, at least from her part. Namely, the veiled hostility that many of the villagers had displayed towards Naruto was now out in the open, and it had begun to affect the people that usually associated with him… her. Whispers of "demon-lover" and other less savory comments accompanied with a sharp increase in prices had stunned the young woman when she first encountered them.

At one point, four older men, reeking of sake and unwashed filth had attempted a more direct way to show their displeasure that the Ichiraku ramen stand served the "blonde demon whore", as they had begun to call Naruto lately. They had cut Ayame's path in one of the least transited alleys of the market district, and had made several lewd comments to her, things that made her skin crawl just to remember them. They had backed her to a wall and when she was about to yell for somebody's help, just in case they planned to come through with their threats despite being in the light of day, drunk as they were, a big hand had come to rest in her slim shoulder.

Ichiraku Ayame would never have thought it, but Akimichi Chöji was a fearsome sight to behold when angry. The chubby teenager was a regular visitor of the ramen stand, for even if his favorite food was Korean barbeque, he loved good food, and Ichiraku ramen was some of the best food there is. During all those visits, Ayame had seen the Akimichi heir as a good-hearted, polite boy with the characteristic healthy appetite characteristic of his family and had never given much though about him being a ninja, someone who is trained to take lives when ordered.

But now, Chöji, nice sweet Chöji, was standing behind her, one foot taller than and twice as wide as Ayame, clad in his family battle armor, with eyes narrowed with anger, one surprisingly gentle hand pulling her from the shoulder to get her behind him and the other hand clenching in a fist that could crush a human head like chicken egg. Suddenly, she could plainly see just why the Akimichi family was respected and acknowledged as being only below the Hyüga in terms of taijutsu prowess. Not even the cute swirls in his cheeks looked cute anymore.

Two or three harshly spoken words later, the four drunkards were scrambling away from the brown-haired boy, and Ayame could swear at least one of them would need a change of pants after this particular incident. Not that they didn't need a bath before, mind. Chöji then released a deep breath, and turned to help Ayame with the bags she was carrying. He walked with her all the way to the ramen stand, and did stop for a free meal, at her insistence; it was the least she could do for her impromptu savior. She bristled a little after he left; for she found that the chubby boy had left the money of the ramen bowls hidden under one of the empty dished and left; and with a good tip to boot.

Chöji, for his part, went to one of his favorite spots after leaving the Ichiraku girl safe with her father, where he knew his best friend was fully engaged in his favorite activity. Chöji sat next to Shikamaru, opened a bag of chips and began munching. He offered his pal some of the chips, and went back to munching, and looking at the clouds, too.

For a while, both teens just sat there, under the shadow of the shed, watching the clouds. Or at least Chöji was, for Shikamaru had his eyes closed, and anyone would bet he had gone to sleep on the spot. One bag of potato chips went down for the count, and then another, and the third was well on its way when, finally, something changed in the scene on the roof. Two other figures landed on the roof and went to sit beneath the shadow of the shed.

Hyüga Neji, young prodigy of the branch family of the Hyüga clan activated his family's doujutsu, the Byakugan, and after a few seconds of searching for something, he nodded, satisfied. His companion, his teammate and budding weapon mistress, Higurashi Tenten, let go of a breath she didn't knew she was holding, and turned to look at Chöji and Shikamaru, that had given no sign of acknowledging their arrival beyond Chöji's nod and wordless offer of his chips. The kunoichi did take one, while the Hyüga just sat there with eyes closed, seeming lost in meditation much as Shikamaru seemed lost in the land of dreams. Then, Chöji spoke:

-"It is getting worse. The rumors are getting more outrageous than ever. Ichiraku-san was almost attacked today."-

Neji just nodded, while Tenten said:

-"We've confirmed some of us are being shadowed. As far as we can tell, Lee, Chöji-san, Ino-san, Sakura-san, you Shikamaru, me and Hinata when she is away from the clan compound."-

Shikamaru yawned and said:

-"But not all of us"-

This time, it was Neji who spoke:

-"No; this "shadows" we've got seem to respect the enhanced senses of team eight and my own. Maybe they are underestimating Hinata-sama's skill with the Byakugan or maybe they dare not leave her out of their sight despite the risks; it would seem everyone but Uzumaki herself know about her feelings"-

Shikamaru nodded.

-"I guessed as much. It is troublesome, but I suppose we can't help but dig a little into this matter, see what we can find underneath. We will need to be careful about this, whoever the hand that pulls the strings is; we cannot tip it we are unto him, or her. Any idea when team eight will be back from their mission?

-"I hear they were scheduled to be back before the end of the week. Hiashi-sama scheduled a couple clan meetings with Hinata-sama's presence."-

-"Well, then; we will see what to do when they are back, hopefully Naruto herself will be back by then. In the meantime, we could do well to keep an eye over the Ichirakus and those workers from Nami no Kuni that are working for Naruto, just to be on the safe side."-

Everybody nodded, and all of them turned their sight up, to look at the few lazy, fluffy white clouds hanging around the otherwise spotless blue sky. The only voice heard afterwards was Chöji's chuckling one, mumbling something about a "Yamanaka's prophetic phrase about troublesome blondes". And a shudder from Shikamaru that almost made a sound by itself

* * *

Hello there, fourth chapter here. A bit rushed in the end as always, and unbeta'ed, again, as always. Hope you like it.

Waaaaa!

**Raiton: Heaven's Smashing Fist**: The hands of the user become charged with lightning chakra. Unlike chidori, there is no penetrating force generated by the attack, just the electricity that discharges unto the target upon contact. Works well enough to shock and stun opponents, however.

**Jinton: Flash Step Technique**: Jinton means "Swift Release" and it appeared in one of the movies, somewhere. The chakras involved are unknown so I'm arbitrarily making the Nanabi give Fü the bloodline. Isn't it great how fanfiction works? =P. As for the jutsu itself, it increases the speed of the user in short bursts, making it akin to a glorified Shunshin no Jutsu.

**Ichibi**: One-tailed demon, a tanuki, sealed inside Sabaku no Gaara.

**Nanabi**: Seven tailed kabutomushi (demon horn beetle) sealed inside the Takigakure girl known as Fü.

**Kirigakure**: Village hidden in the mist. One of the five great ninja villages, it is somewhere within Mizu no Kuni territory.

**Taki no Kuni**: Land of Waterfalls, country allied with Hi no Kuni. Roughly square in shape, it borders south to Hi no Kuni, west to Tsuchi no Kuni and east to an unnamed country I've called Tani no Kuni (Land of Valleys). It has coast to the north.


	5. Plan B

Disclaimer: I wish I did own Naruto but sadly this is not the case.

* * *

Contrary to the travel to Suna, the return to Konoha through Kawa no Kuni was done calmly, at a leisure pace. Shizune felt good with herself for a job well done.

The poison Kankuro had been afflicted with may have been the most devious concoction she had ever encountered. It ravaged the target's body at a cellular level, destroying basic proteins and disrupting the body's metabolism in a way that ensured death, but only after three or four days of mind-wreaking pain that all but paralyzed the target completely. It was a combination of immobilizing shackles, debilitating torture and guaranteed death; and almost impossible to counter, either by medicine or medical jutsu. Truly a masterwork in the field of poisons.

She was not one of the best poison specialists there were for nothing, however, and she had managed to isolate most of the substance and identify the various active ingredients in time to prepare a mixture to fight its effects and earn the time required to use some medic techniques and cleanse the victim's body. It had been a close call with the second victim, but both Suna-nin had made it and would recover with time.

Those were a stressful and hectic 48 hours, but now she was enjoying a quite stroll back home, with a sample of the poison and the antidote for Konoha's medical databank. For now, her mind was wandering towards the unusual circumstances she had witnessed in Suna. Shizune knew that Sabaku no Gaara, the Godaime Kazekage had stated in repeated occasions that Uzumaki Naruto was his friend, but she had not really expected the young Kazekage to include the Konoha blonde kunoichi in the emergency security meeting with Suna's Shinobi Council. It was a private village affair after all, and not only had the three Konoha ninja been invited to hear it out, but they had given a chair to Naruto in the table. As an equal. With Suna's clan heads and the Shinobi leaders.

Kakashi and Shizune had respectfully heard the proceedings from the side, and Kakashi had even been invited to speak a little about his prior encounter with Akatsuki members. But the Suna Shinobi had accepted Naruto at their table, at the left hand of the Kazekage (his sister Temari was sitting at his right) like if her hitai-ate had the Suna sand clock instead of the Konoha leaf; they listened to her while she explained them some things about Akatsuki that were most likely product of Jiraiya-sama's spy network, and they took it at face value, making plans and contingencies, what little could be planned for, anyways.

It was just, well, weird. While Konoha and Suna were in fairly good terms as allies, especially considering the Orochimaru-led fiasco of three years ago, they probably had never been in such good terms during the whole time their alliance had stood as to have a Konoha Shinobi in the Suna council or vice versa. It didn't made sense, but then again, several other things were equally weird.

Like the Takigakure kunoichi called Fü, for example. Shizune had not met the tan girl until their last day in Suna; she had been busy with the poison and antidote first, and then sleeping after the all-nighters she pulled two days straight. But in that last day before the return trip, after their meeting with Suna leaders, she had found the lime-green haired girl sitting in Naruto's lap, thoroughly inspecting the blonde's tonsils with her tongue, uncaring of both their natural needs for air. Shizune blush beet red and vacated the area, she didn't want to interrupt.

The girl was there again when they were being seen off by the Kazekage and his sister, plus a few others. She had being loud in promising "Ero-Sennin" a whole world of hurt for leaving "her Naru-chan" alone, and seemed serious enough about it. After the blonde calmed her; and she complained again about being stuck in Suna with "boring Gaara-nii", she smooched Naruto again, "as goodbye", and finally turned to a Suna kunoichi called Sari, smooched her a little too and told her to take "good care" of their Naru-chan, with suggestive wink and all.

And that took Shizune to the other weird thing, or rather, weird person of this trip. Sari of Sunagakure was a rather normal-looking teenager girl, with a waist long, well-cared-for brunette hair that framed her eyes in a cute way thanks to her bandana-style hitai-ate, and was chünin ranked in the village hidden in the sand if her shinobi vest was any indication. Polite and well-mannered, and with an innate grace in her movements that spoke of the seriousness that she put in her chosen career. So far, Shizune had no idea what the girl was doing with them in their way back to Konoha, so when they stopped for the night and she got dinner duty while Kakashi and Naruto left to establish a perimeter and gather wood for the fire, she took the chance to ask the girl directly. She caught her attention and said:

-"I fear we have not been introduced properly, my name is Shizune. Pleased to meet you"-

-"Oh, yes, I apologize for that, Shizune-san. My name is Sari, nice to meet you too."-

Both women bowed politely, and Shizune went back to her food preparations while Sari kept assembling the tents. After a few seconds, Shizune asked:

-"I hope you don't mind me prying, Sari-san, but, what your mission in Konoha is?"-

-"Mission? None. I've just been discharged from the active duty roster by Kazekage-sama this morning, so I came with Naruto-sama to Konoha."-

Shizune arched her eyebrow in a wondering manner, and muttered:

-"Naruto-sama?"-

-"Well, yes. I've given my Sandwalker Oath to Naruto-sama, so I'm her retainer, of sorts."-

Shizune looked at the girl curiously. Sandwalker oath? Retainers? What was she talking about?

-"Aren't retainers supposed to be people that swears loyalty to a noble family? How can you be Naruto-chan's retainer?"-

-"Well, the Uzumaki family is a noble clan from the old Uzu no Kuni, so Naruto-sama should have retainers, I guess. But I spoke the Sandwalker Oath. Do you know what that means?"-

Shizune shook her head in denial, wondering how the girl knew about the old Uzumaki clan and the Suna girl continued to talk:

-"Back before the foundation of Sunagakure, there was an ancient tradition among the nomad tribes that lived in the desert. You see, obedience was paramount for the survival of the tribe, but obedience cannot be thrown blindly without a worthy leadership. So it was the prerogative of each adult member of the tribe to give her Sandwalked oath to a leader they found worthy. The exact words varied from tribe to tribe, but the essence was simple, you put your life in the hands of the leader you choose, to do with it as he saw fit.

You see, in a time when nothing was guaranteed, not even water; sometimes hard decisions had to be made. Sometimes, the tribe's leader had to decide who was going to get water and food, and who wasn't. That amounted to a death sentence for those that didn't had their ration, or sometimes, you could be ordered to stay behind and fight off pursuers against impossible odds, to buy the tribe time to get away. You see, the Sandwalker oath meant that you were going to obey and sacrifice your life when asked to, knowing that your leader was doing it for the good of the tribe. That kind of discipline was what allowed our forefathers to survive in such inhospitable environment.

Since the foundation of our hidden village when the tribes banded together and the scarcity of resources no longer meant someone had to choose who drank and who died of thirst, the use of the oath fell into disuse; you see, it was a voluntary thing to do if you believed in your leader, after all, but it is a standing law on Suna and it is binding for life, as it has ever been. And I did give my Sandwalker oath to Naruto-sama a few months ago. So my life is hers, to dispose as she sees fit. Much like a retainer, really"-

Shizune nodded, understanding where that came from. Sari had approached the fire during her speech and was helping with the dinner with practiced ease. Before Shizune could ask anything else from the Suna girl, Naruto returned, and a little later, Kakashi did too. They went to sleep early, taking turns for the guard, as usual, and early in the morning they were again in the road back to Konoha, the Godaime's apprentice sparing appraising glances to the young brunette; she had noticed her climbing out of Naruto's tent in the morning.

* * *

A female figure was sitting in front of a desk, in a depressingly dark, windowless room, barely big enough to contain a wooden desk and a tall locker against the wall. The girl was engrossed in the examination of some paperwork, when a big calloused hand obscured her view of the paper in front of her, and she almost fell off the chair when she recoiled in surprise.

Her heart had skipped a beat out of surprise, and she turned upwards with a scowl, looking directly into the eyes of one toad sage, who was grinning like a mischievous boy. The woman huffed in indignation, and crossed her arms. Jiraiya of the sannin just sat in the spare chair in the little room, cheeky grin still firmly in place, and said:

-"I received your message. You said you had something for me."-

-"Did someone saw you in the area?"-

Jiraiya arched his eyebrow in a gesture of "who do you think you're talking to", and the woman just scowled a little more. He was a cheeky bastard all right, but she could not deny he was one of the best ninja there were to be found anywhere across the elemental nations. She just swallowed her annoyance and told the sannin:

-"Well, yeah, I do have something. As usual, you have to pin it to some other source if you need to give explanations. I heard that Orochimaru-sama is going to move to his northern refuge to begin preparations to change vessels in one month's time. He'll only take the most trusted of his personnel with him, since he's supposed to be very vulnerable during the transfer."-

Jiraiya grew serious instantly at hearing that. Now that was a pearl of information worth all the years of effort he had put into this particular informant within Orochimaru's organization. Not that his common decency would not have made him fish out the proof to show the woman the truth behind Orochimaru's lies and manipulations, but this definitely was a big bonus. He looked at her with all seriousness and said:

-"If you want to bail out, I can get you out whenever you want. I can get you to Konoha under protection, or get you a new life away from here. Your choice"-

The woman smiled despite herself. Jiraiya may be an idiot, and a lecher, but the old man was willing to deliver on his promises whenever she called him on it. She shook her head, and told him:

-"I will want my ticket out soon enough. But I do have stuff that I need to round up here, before I leave."-

Jiraiya nodded and stood. He dropped a small scroll in her desk and made to open the door. The woman looked down to pick up the scroll and when she turned up he was gone. No door, no poof, no nothing. He was just gone, not even her |chakra sensing technique found him. Shaking her head at the old man's antics, she opened the scroll. It was a blank one. The redhead just smirked yet again, adjusted her glasses over her nose and went back to her work. Orochimaru-sama would not be pleased if she tallied behind in her duties, after all.

* * *

Naruto and her companions had arrived at Konoha at the midmorning hours of the third day since leaving Suna. They had entered the village, presented Sari's paperwork and went to the Hokage tower to report to Tsunade. Shizune entered the office after knocking, followed by the other three. She quickly and professionally delivered a short report of the mission success and then begged her leave to go put the poison and the antidote on storage at the hospital. Kakashi went next, mumbling something noncommittal about a prior appointment and that left Naruto and Sari in the office with Tsunade of the sannin and her second apprentice, Haruno Sakura.

-"So, Naruto. This is the Suna girl you were talking about. Sari-san, am I correct?"-

-"Yep, this is her, Baa-chan. Uzumaki Sari. Even if she is stubborn about it."-

Said Suna kunoichi blushed a bit and bowed deeply:

-"I am… Uzumaki… Sari, Naruto-sama's retainer. Pleased to meet you, Hokage-sama."-

-"I hear from Kazekage-dono that you have formed a life lasting, binding contract of sorts with Naruto here under Suna law; and I understand that you have been released by him to fulfill the duties entailed."-

The brunette just nodded, keeping her hands clasped in front of her. Naruto kept a straight face, but one of her hands betrayed her boredom by playing with one of her pigtails and Sakura just stood there with a stack of paperwork in her hands, her eyes as wide as saucers and her jaw somewhere around the floorboards. Tsunade ignored their antics and kept talking:

-"Well, as our alliance agreement requires, we will respect the validity and weight of the Suna law. You will be declared a member of the Uzumaki clan and be free to come and go as Naruto herself, for as long as the alliance stand, which hopefully will be long enough for us not to see the end of it. You will not, however, be able to go along with Naruto when missions are issued to her. Am I clear with everything?"-

-"Yes, Hokage-sama"-

-"Well, baa-chan, we are going to go settle Sari-chan home, and then I'll take her sight-seeing. I'll deliver you my report sometime tomorrow. See ya"-

At that the blonde kunoichi left the office, the brunette in tow, Naruto already chatting away. Tsunade ordered Sakura to go and deliver some paperwork to the archives. When the pink-haired girl nodded dumbly and left with the papers on hand, a poof of smoke in the room signaled the return of one silver haired jönin to the office. Tsunade didn't even bothered to turn and look at him, she just asked:

-"Well?"-

Kakashi sighed and closed his orange smut book. He suddenly became serious and began saying:

-"It is pretty much as Jiraiya-sama briefed us. I inquired a little, and now that the Akatsuki threat is out in the open in Suna, some of it was made public. She doesn't call the Kazekage "Gaara-nii" just for kicks; Uzumaki Naruto is the adopted sister of the Kazekage, a member of the Sabaku family, one of the noble clans of Sunagakure. All very legal and proper, just like that Sari girl and her oath. And everyone in the village seems to think it is the best idea their Kazekage has had in a while.

They heard Naruto's information about Akatsuki in their shinobi council like our own would hear Jiraiya-sama's opinion. The leaders in Suna respect her, Tsunade-sama; more than that, they like her. She did pick apart the Shukaku seal and fixed it, giving the Kazekage a sizeable boost in power, and was the intellectual author of the strategy that allowed Suna to ultimately beat the Akatsuki organization away from their doorstep. Even now, their Shinobi are confident than between their leader and her, they can take on the Akatsuki head-on.

And I won't even go into the Taki girl, Fü; that one would be having Naruto's children right now if it was physically possible anymore. At one point she almost snapped my head off because I asked her what she saw in Naruto. That girl is a jinchüriki too; I could gather she's been at least six months in Suna already, she was brought there by Naruto and Jiraiya-sama to support Gaara-san against Akatsuki and it was her that turned the battle in favor of the Kazekage. Ah, by the way, Naruto taught her the Kage Bunshin."-

Tsunade rubbed her nose; she felt a headache coming on and the sudden need to look in her secret stash for a bottle of sake. It should be full, since Shizune had been away all week.

-"So, you are telling me that Suna is trying to snatch away our shinobi?"-

Kakashi scratched his chin and looked at the ceiling with his uncovered eye. He thought for a bit and then answered:

-"I wouldn't say they are trying to take her away, though I don't doubt they would hang a Suna hitai-ate in her forehead given half the chance. They, however, respect her and like her, and it is not a forced thing. Sari-san's oath came out of her initiative, without prompting of any kind from her superiors; and I managed to ask her directly. The girl is not a good liar.

What I mean to say is that Naruto herself may consider becoming a Suna citizen in the future, if things go on as they have in the past. I don't doubt Naruto's loyalty, but it is only human to get feed up of being mistreated and cold-shouldered everywhere you look, as she has been all her life around here, especially when there are places where you're appreciated with sincerity."-

Tsunade huffed and closed her eyes. Jiraiya had warned her about the same lines, saying that only Naruto's bone-deep loyalty prevented her from consider leaving Konoha for good, there being other places that would welcome her gladly. She decided to share something with Kakashi; being Naruto's official jönin sensei, he should know anyway:

-"By the way, the council vetoed my attempt to grant Naruto chünin status based on Jiraiya's report and the examination you performed."-

Kakashi's eyebrow rose and he looked at his leader with an amused smile:

-"Wasn't the council just an advisory body Sandaime-sama formed? Do they even have the authority to do that?"-

-"It is not funny, Kakashi. It seems that during the month and something they took over ruling the village between Sandaime's passing and my arrival, they passed a bunch of laws to snatch a good bit of power away from the Hokage and into their hands. And they managed to have the Daimyo approve of it, too. It is going to take a whole lot of political maneuvering to convince the daimyo it was the wrong thing to do, and in the meanwhile, Naruto will be pretty much stranded as a genin unless she manages to take down an s-class missing-nin with the whole village as witness."-

Seeing the sannin lost in her gloomy thoughts, Kakashi begged his leave:

-"With the Akatsuki hunting after the jinchüriki, that may come to pass yet. If that is all, Hokage-sama, I'll be taking my leave."-

The blonde Hokage nodded and when he left, she fished a small sake bottle from one of the desk's drawer, taking a long sip directly from the bottle. How could the councilors be so stupid? It is not like they were not experienced shinobi that could tell right away Naruto was the kid and not the demon inside. Why would they hold to their stupid grudges to the point where it may as well cost Konoha one of their better shinobi?

No answers came from the little bottle of liquor, though that didn't exactly prevented Tsunade from drying it out, once again wishing she had not taken the Hokage position but knowing there was not anyone else she could trust with the job ready to take it from her hands; not yet, at least.

* * *

After leaving the Hokage tower, Naruto took the shinobi express towards the training areas west of the village, with Sari in tow. On the way she showed the Suna girl the main stuff to be seen around the town, namely the market, the academy and the clan holdings. Naruto knew the village itself like the palm of her hand, years of pranking and running from her victims had given her an almost perfect mental picture of the village, all of its nooks and crannies; but it was not like the girl knew which places were interesting to visit, having being banned from most of them during her childhood.

The pair made good time in reaching the training grounds, however, landing in the winding route that bordered the areas of the west side. She knew that both team eight and team ten used this side of town, being closer to the clan compounds, and with a little luck they could find someone from team nine around, too.

Indeed, luck was on her side, for soon she spotted team ten hard at work in training ground 17. Well, hard at work is a bit rhetorical; only Ino was training, practicing a light taijutsu kata while Chöji was sitting in the shade of a big tree digging in a bag of potato chips and both Shikamaru and Asuma were laying down near the Akimichi boy, the former looking at the clouds and the later adding to them with his trusty cancer stick.

Naruto stormed the area, dragging Ino out of her taijutsu training towards her teammates, while half a dozen clones of Naruto spread around the neighboring grounds, looking low and high for the other members of the rookie twelve. In six minutes flat, the hyperactive blonde had gathered team eight and nine in the shadow of the old oak complete with jönin senseis and had unsealed a sizeable amount of snacks out of one of the scrolls she carried in her arm.

When everyone had settled, she went and introduced the Suna girl as "Uzumaki Sari" to them all. Many of the Konoha ninja just blinked, a little dumfounded until the brunette bowed politely, naming herself "Naruto-sama's retainer". After that, the conversation went on at full throttle, mainly led by a nosy Ino and a strangely stiff-necked Hinata, who for once swallowed her shame at being the center of attention and peppered the newcomer with questions about the meaning and extent of the "retainer" title she was using.

While the predictable interrogation was happening, Neji activated his doujutsu discretely and looked around intently for a minute. When he finished, he directed a meaningful glance and a nod towards Shikamaru, who stood and wandered off among the trees, touching lightly Naruto's shoulder when he did so. After he lost sight of the group, he found another Naruto waiting for him, sitting quietly in a high branch, half-hidden among the canopy.

Shikamaru climbed with a jump and sat next to her. They stood there in silence for a while, Shikamaru just studying the leaves above him until Naruto spoke:

-"That bad, uh?"-

Shikamaru nodded, and kept staring lazily at the sky that could be seen before answering:

-"The rumors have been growing more and more outrageous; Ino and Tenten-san had been doing a good job of keeping an ear to the ground while seeming oblivious, but there's no end to the gossip. The worst is that people buys it like gospel and it is starting to stick to people that associates with you."-

Naruto just looked at her friend with an expressionless face, and Shikamaru continued:

-"The day before yesterday some drunkards threatened Ayame-san physically; Chöji had to scare them away."-

Naruto just gave a tiny nod, still staring ahead expressionlessly. Shikamaru began to worry a little at that, he had knew Naruto for years, and despite her "death and resurrection", deep down she was still the same Naruto he had knew for a while now; the Naruto he knew should have exploded already at the news of someone threatening her precious people.

Shikamaru was thinking something along those lines when he stopped his study of the leaves to turn and look at Naruto, and he almost fell out of the tree at what he saw. Naruto was just staring ahead, biting her lower lip and her big blue eyes were on the verge of tears. He didn't know what to do or say, Ino was the one with the social skills in the team; but before he had to find a solution for the awkward situation, Naruto rubbed her eyes and managed a tiny smile, before saying:

-"Teuchi-oji-san and Ayame-nee-chan were the first persons to speak to me after Sandaime-jiji, you know? Ayame-nee-chan's voice was as sweet as a bird's, and Teuchi-oji-san's so loud, and deep, like the earth, it seemed to me. I don't remember how old I was, but it had been raining, and there was no one around. It was late. I'm pretty sure it was after I was kicked out of the orphanage, but I don't remember exactly when.

And Teuchi-oji-san gave me a bowl of ramen because I wandered into their stand, wet and dirty and hungry. It was miso. I had no money, of course, but he didn't mind. Ayame-nee-chan barely reached the counter back then; she used a box to step on. But she came all the way around the counter to bow and ask me to come back soon, when I was done eating.

There was a lady there, too. I don't remember her much, but she smiled a lot. And her voice was like Ayame-nee-chan's, like music, or the water of the river."-

Shikamaru didn't know what to do, Naruto was telling what seemed to be some very private moments, and he didn't really know how to respond. So he didn't, he just laid a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder, who only smiled a little at his supportive gesture. They stood there, until Naruto managed to get her emotions back under control, and she continued:

-"I can't allow anything to happen to the Ichiraku family just because they have associated with me in the past, Shikamaru-kun."-

-"So what do you plan to do, Naruto? About them, and about the rumors in general? If it weren't for the wild tales running around, the Ichirakus would have nothing to worry about."-

Naruto kept silence for a little, and then said to her friend:

-"I have to speak with the Ichirakus as soon as possible, and Keichi-san and his crew too, while I'm at it. I have to make sure they are safe, somehow. As far as the rumors themselves go, I'll do absolutely nothing."-

Shikamaru looked Naruto in the eye, trying to read her mind with his gaze.

-"Are you giving up? That is not the Naruto I remember. Rumors are being seeded by someone; that much we do know. It is pretty much a discrediting campaign against you being carried out by someone, therefore we can counter it."-

Naruto shook her head, and answered:

-"Give up on protecting this village? Never, Shikamaru-kun; I promised Sandaime-jiji in his tomb and I intend to deliver. But give up about wearing the hat? I think that, deep down, I gave up on that after I fought Gaara during the invasion and nobody believed me. The people of Konoha will never allow me to wear the hat. I'm a reminder of their worst day, Shika, when mighty Konoha, the greatest of ninja villages was rendered utterly powerless and thrown into despair.

People can forgive and forget many things, but having their pride crushed is not one of them; that is one of the reasons the Iwa shinobi still hate the yondaime to this day, because he showed them that the strength they were so proud of meant nothing to him. A bruised body heals, but a bruised ego keeps on hurting for generations."-

-"He he. Since when did you become a philosopher, hmmm?"-

-"Actually, it was something I was taught when I was recovering from my brush with death. Haruka-sama is a wise woman, and that is one of the many things she taught me, even if it was not applied to this particular case. The point it that it will always be an uphill battle to earn the most basic levels of respect and trust, and that without prominent members of the village working behind the scenes to put the people against me."-

-"Prominent members of the village? "-

-"I know for sure of at least one guy, an old man called Danzo that seems to have the ear of the Hokage councilors and who knows how many other people. Maybe some others, I know for a fact that Hinata's dad sent someone to spy me when training. And he was not the only one. Bottom line, I cannot change people's minds fast enough to keep my friends safe and I cannot do what I need to do about Akatsuki by being a genin, which won't change fast enough, either.

When I arrived from the training trip with Ero-Sennin, I was honestly expecting that people would give me a chance. That is why I asked Baa-chan to remove the Sandaime law thing, and told my story to anyone that cared to listen. But one jerk comes along spouting wild tales without proof or backup and they choose to believe that. Well, that may leave me out of the running for the hat, but I still got plan B"-

Shikamaru nodded, and asked:

-"What is the plan B?"-

-"It is a bit drastic, but I think it has a fair chance to work. Let me tell you how it goes…"-

Shikamaru and Naruto spent the rest of the afternoon in that tree, discussing the so-called plan B, while the Naruto back with the rest of the rookie twelve spent half the afternoon narrating the fight the Kazekage had had against an Akatsuki missing-nin, and praising repeatedly a thoroughly embarrassed Sari for her participation in said confrontation.

All too soon for the whiskered girl and none too soon for her beet-red retainer, night fell, and after apologizing for ruining their afternoon trainings, Naruto led the whole contingent of young shinobi to the Ichiraku ramen stand. It was time to get some of that delicious food, and for Sari to meet more of her precious people. With any luck, Iruka-sensei would be around, and Naruto would kill two birds with one stone.

* * *

Sari did not like Konoha.

She was sad to admit it, but she did not like Konoha at all. When she had first met Naruto, back before she repaired Kazekage-sama's seal, she had listened a bit to the stories the blonde spoke about her hometown, and it was very different from the place they were living at. Well, more exactly, it was what Naruto said, but so much more; and not in a good way.

Sure, Ichiraku ramen was the best ramen she had ever tasted (she still said that okonomiyaki was better than ramen, though if anyone told Naruto-sama that, she would deny it) and the father-daughter pair were very nice people; Naruto's old academy sensei, Iruka, was a nice guy too. The Hokage was good to Naruto-sama, and her shinobi friends were a cool, if weird bunch, but then again, she had still to meet a shinobi who was not weird at all.

But what made Sari sad was the stuff that Naruto kept out of her stories, namely, everything else. She had been in Konoha for a little more than a week, and people had already associated her with Naruto's name, not that she wanted it otherwise. But people had begun treating her like they treated Naruto and she found it was awful.

Excessive pricing and denied service were bad, but the cold, uncaring gazes paired with the sheer hostility in some of the looks she got in the streets were just plain wrong. A few people had even go as far as blocking her path on purpose, just to spit in front of her, before turning and leaving with a scowl in the face. Therefore, she had taken to avoid the streets and travel through the roofs whenever possible.

Sari sighed loudly, taking a sip of her tea cup, resting a bit after the daily training session she had just returned from. A couple of her clones were hard at work at the kitchen to prepare something for the building crew that was working in the first floor right now, and Naruto-sama was at Mount Myöbokuzan training with the toads, so she had a little time to relax. She could not, however, for she kept trying to reason what was wrong with Konoha's civilians and some shinobi too.

The brunette wondered if people in Konoha were really that dumb, or they were just mean. They called Naruto-sama, and sometimes herself too, "demon whore", and other stuff that was even worse. They said Naruto-sama was the "kyübi brat" and claimed she would be better off dead, and that maybe they would come around to do it themselves someday.

Didn't they see how stupid that sounded? If Naruto-sama was indeed the demon itself, wouldn't she have already slaughtered them all for the horrible way they treated her? What, did they thought the demon was going to take it without responding back? Even Kazekage-sama had been turned half-mad by the Shukaku and killed people that so much as looked at him the wrong way back when he was a kid; they should guess that insulting a so-called demon was a sure way to find a quick, painful death.

The very fact that they dared to antagonize Naruto-sama in any way they could proved that deep down they knew she was no demon; otherwise their own self-preservation instincts would prevent anyone but the plainly suicidal to do anything but to put a fake smile and indulge her as best they could.

With that reasoning, Sari had to conclude that the Konoha people, with few exceptions, were just mean jerks that were happy to hurt an innocent to feel better with themselves. Sari cringed just to think what Naruto-sama had suffered when she was a child; given that Sari herself could barely stand such treatment now that she was a full-fledged shinobi. It made her wonder why Naruto-sama was so keen on protecting the very people that made her childhood miserable.

Musing on those depressing thoughts was not good for her, so she shook herself out of it and went to help her clones with the food. She could not make many clones with her current chakra reserves, but even in limited numbers, she had to admit the Kage Bunshin was the best thing ever after hot baths. And she should remember to prepare something nice for Naruto-sama's return, while she was at it; after working hard with her toad summons.

* * *

The woman, clad in blue silks, stood in the big room, looking out the window, taking in the sights of the village below, the war wall at the end of it and the fog bank covering the horizon beyond. She loved her village, and it was at moments like this when it seemed to sleep peacefully, like a slumbering creature lost in the land of dreams, that she could see the beauty her father saw in it.

One hand touched the glass of the window lightly, feeling the cold of the first hours of the morning through it, and a little of the dampness in the air too. With the other hand she toyed with her auburn-reddish hair, and her mind traveled far away, to another place and time, where a little redheaded girl had played in the beach under the affective gaze of her parents, and been happy.

Lost in her thoughts she was, but not lost enough not to hear the door opening quietly and a man entering the room, through the only door at the other side from the window. The man stood at attention, waiting for her to acknowledge him. She turned her head slightly; just enough to perceive his form with her emerald-like right eye, and gave the tiniest of nods, to let him say his piece:

-"Mizukage-sama, the preparations are going according to the plan, here are the documents for your approval. And we received this letter, addressed for your eyes only; it has no sender. Should I destroy it?"-

-"How did it arrive?"-

-"We… we don't know, Mizukage-sama. No hawks or ninja couriers arrived to the village yesterday; it just appeared in the office of the communications center this morning."-

The man was sweating a little despite the cold of the morning; it had always been risky to inform the prior Mizukage that something akin to a breach in security had happened. The new Mizukage, however, always wore a pleasant smile, but instead of becoming a dangerous frown, the smile grew a little wider. She mumbled a barely audible "showoff", and motioned for her subordinate to put the papers in her desktop.

-"Leave the letter. I will deal with it myself. Is there something else?"-

-"No, ma'am."-

-"Very well. You are dismissed, then, and thank you."-

The Kiri shinobi bowed to his leader, and left the office. It was so strange to have the Mizukage being polite; even if it was such a small gesture as a "thank you", the new leader of Kirigakure undoubtedly was a mouthful of fresh air after the reign of the late yondaime Mizukage, with all his paranoia and obsessions.

Well, she was not that new, since it was almost a year ago that Terumï Mei, the daughter of the Sandaime Mizukage, had come out of wherever she had been hidden to stop the civil war and claim the Mizukage title, after it had been vacated by the mysterious disappearance of the yondaime Mizukage, Yagura. Well, it was a good change, as far as he was concerned. Not that anybody asked him, though this Mizukage certainly gave the impression of being someone that cared about the opinions of her subordinates, unlike other leaders he had known.

Back in the office, the Mizukage approached the desk and picked the small scroll, recognizing the intricate security seal on it. She unlocked it with a bit of blood, and sat on her chair to read it. She finished quickly, and while she felt sad for the difficult circumstances the author was facing right now, she could not help but feel a little happy about it, even if it was a selfish thought. After all, going for plan B meant that she was going to see her beloved again way sooner than expected!

Feeling a different kind of happy than before, when she was remembering the fond memories of her childhood, Terumï Mei set to work with her usual enthusiasm and then some. Her first year as Mizukage was about to be completed and the daimyo of Mizu no Kuni was going to be visiting the village himself, so she intended to have everything in order for him, to prove him that supporting her with the hat had indeed been the best decision for Kiri and Mizu itself.

Later, she would write a reply to the letter, to offer her best wishes to the writer and to remind her that having toads making ghost deliveries in hidden villages tended to make shinobi rather paranoid about having their village's defenses breached. Not that she cared much, as long as she knew where it came from.

* * *

Naruto kept her eyes closed, her form perfectly still, sitting in a lotus position, while her hands rested in her lap. Her other senses had the unusual task of being the main sources of information for her mind, and right now she was perceiving another aspect of things. The fresh mountain air felt reinvigorating, loaded with the surprisingly sweet scent of the gigantic mushrooms that dotted the place and the oily, heavy scent of the toad fountain nearby, among a myriad of other smells, many that she didn't recognized.

She could hear many tiny sounds too, even the shush of the fabric from Fukasaku-sama's tunic when the old toad shifted his little body to roll the scroll he was reading, or the scraping of the grass leaves near the base of the spire.

She could… feel… the world around her too; it was the strangest of feelings, for she was not hearing or touching or smelling, but _feeling_ the world around her, perceiving it with none of her senses and yet with a startling clarity, baring her soul to become one with nature itself, with the world around her as a whole.

The first few times she had trained with the help of the special toad oil, Fukasaku-sama had needed to smack her in the head with his cane, to prevent her from being overwhelmed from the direct contact with what she called, the soul of the world itself. Little by little, during their weekly training sessions, she had come to discern the limit, the paper-thin border where her self and the energy of nature were in equilibrium within, and she had been moved to the next stage of her training, foregoing the use of the toad oil to train her ability to connect with the nature chakra by her own means.

Naruto was nothing if not a hard worker, however, and while she was sitting in a stone slab perfectly equilibrated over a stone spire finding her inner equilibrium, several of her taijutsu clones were practicing the toad kata she had been taught, following the form slowly, letting it become instinct to her. One of the Narutos, however, stopped her exercises and approached the little old toad, clearing her throat to draw his attention.

-"Yes, Naruto-chan?"-

-"Ne, Fukasaku-sensei, I was wondering, could you do me a favor?"-

-"Well, it depends, what do you want, Naruto-chan?"-

The Naruto standing on the side of the spire scratched the back of her head, and gave the toad her best innocent smile and asked:

-"Say, can you teach me to make those reverse summoning seals you toads use?"-

The toad arched one bushy, snowy eyebrow, and looked at the blonde girl. Her progress so far had been nothing short of awesome, especially considering the fact that she was being summoned to train at Myöbokuzan only once a week, sometimes even less than that. Normally the elder wouldn't have agreed to accept such sketchy schedule, she knew that dedication was paramount to the kind of training a toad sage underwent, but the girl and Jiraiya-chan had made her case quite vehemently, and once they got Ma on their side, well, it was a foregone conclusion.

Still, Fukasaku wondered just why the young human wanted to learn a skill that was designed for summons to be able to call their contractors to their realm; it would be pretty useless for her, since it worked only in one direction, from the human world to mount Myöbokuzan. He asked as much to Naruto and the blonde answered:

-"Well, for one I want to see if I can make me a self-summoning technique to come to Myöbokuzan by myself, provided you give me permission, of course. And the other thing I want to do is to be able to summon other people I need directly to where I need them. Essentially, a method to provide either fast reinforcements or a safe, quick retreat."-

The toad looked at his pupil and had to smile, the little tadpole sure was enterprising when setting her goals.

-"Well, I could teach you the method we use, Naruto-chan, but you must realize that it may not help you to do what you want, it works only to pull people that has signed the toad contract from the human world."-

She nodded, with a serious look in her eyes, and the toad knew she was not going to just drop the issue without giving it a try; a potentially headache-inducing try but maybe quite interesting try nonetheless.

-"Well, I realize that, Fukasaku-sensei, but I guessed that taking what you have, learning its principles, and mixing that with yondaime's research would be a better starting point than starting to work on it from scratch, neh?"-

The toad chuckled at that; enterprising did not begin to describe this girl. Yes, training the little tadpole had been one of the best ideas Jiraiya-chan had ever had. So Fukasaku set aside the scroll he was reading, and jumped off the spire, followed by the Naruto clone. He began to hop in direction to the toad clan compound and said the Naruto behind him:

-"Come along then, Naruto-chan. Let me show you how we summon a person and then we will discuss the mechanics behind it."-

Naruto nodded, and jogged after the little toad, the feral grin she reserved for new challenges spread all over her face.

* * *

Sari let out a strangled cry, one that had begun as a yell but had died halfway in her throat when the air left her lungs. She arched her back like a strung bow, until she was held by only her feet and shoulders, and her mouth opened again, trying vainly to scream before the second wave of pleasure in a dozen seconds crashed through her consciousness like a wrecking ball and she passed out, her lithe form coming to rest on the bed, held from the hips by caring hands.

Naruto licked her fingers with satisfaction, happy her partner seemed to like her skills and enjoying the salty tang of her essence; then smiled, looking fondly at the polite girl, who was sprawled naked in her bed, and remembered with a quiet chuckle how she almost had a panic attack the first time the Suna kunoichi fainted after an orgasm. Luckily for her Fü had had a cooler head, and actually knew what was going on.

Admiring the ethereal glow that Sari's skin gained while covered with a thin sheet of sweat under the moonlight coming from the window of the bedroom, the blonde stood, naked as the day she was born, and gathered the brunette in her arms, kissing her forehead, while a Kage Bunshin appeared out of thin air to set the bed for sleep. Sari just mumbled something indiscernible and snuggled against Naruto's neck, getting a soft giggle out of the whiskered girl. The clone finished preparing the bed, and Naruto laid Sari on it before covering her with the new, fresh sheets.

Naruto took a black, silken robe from the bathroom and quietly vacated the area, going to the balcony to take a breath of the night air before going to sleep. She leaned against the railing of the balcony, and looked up at the stars, her blonde hair not tied in her twin pigtails for once, weaving in the night wind. Almost ten minutes later, a big, white haired figure with a red sleeveless coat dropped from the roof onto the railing, landing in a crouch next to Naruto.

-"I hope you were not peeking on us, Ero-Sennin."-

The toad sage gave the young kunoichi a lecherous grin, and said nonchalantly:

-"Me? Of course not! I would never spy on my goddaughter and her girlfriends when they are going at it."-

The blonde just arched an eyebrow in a surprisingly elegant gesture and the sannin grinned:

-"Well, maybe I would, but I'd let you know, first. After that, if you don't close that window, I cannot be held to blame."-

Naruto just shook her head; the old man sure took his title of super-pervert seriously. She guessed he was not here just to tell her that he had not spied on Sari-chan and her, so she asked him:

-"So, Ero-Sennin, what brings you here? I thought you were going to be away checking your contacts for some more time."-

-"Actually, I'm just passing through; I decided to take a little detour when I saw your letter. Are you sure that's what you want to do? Going for plan B has a fair chance to blow in all our faces quite spectacularly."-

-"I know that, Ero-Sennin, but that is the only option I can see that had any chance to actually produce some results before I'm wrinkly and old like you"-

Jiraiya bonked Naruto on the head for that comment, but said nothing about her affirmation. He had gathered a few reports from his people within Konoha itself, and the general attitude towards Naruto was even worse than he thought it would be. He shook his head sadly, wondering when the village he had been so proud of had changed so much. The blonde began to walk inside and said:

-"If you don't mind, we can discuss this in the morning. I gotta get my beauty sleep, you know?"-

-"There is another thing. I got wind that Orochimaru is moving already. We got a little less than a month before he possesses the Uchiha kid. I was in my way to inform Tsunade; I just wanted you to know beforehand. You should get ready appropriately, for soon enough we'll go snake-hunting. I'll see you in the morning"-

Naruto looked at her sensei and nodded before he jumped off into the darkness of the night. She had known the time was coming, but the news still startled her. She silently thanked Jiraiya for the heads up and entered the house, crawling in bed next to the warm, soft form of a heavily sleeping Sari.

Sleep, however, took a long time to claim her.

* * *

Hello there. Well, not much is happening here, it is one of those kinda boring but kinda needed chapters, when nothing really exciting happens but ties things together. Or at least that is what I hope it is, somehow.

Anyway, I hope you like it.

Waaaaa!!!

**Kawa no Kuni**: Land of Rivers

**Uzu no Kuni**: Land of Whirlpools.


	6. Quiet Days

Disclaimer: I wish I did own Naruto but sadly this is not the case.

* * *

Kaminari no Kuni is a big country, rivaling Hi no Kuni in sheer extension and taking up the northeastern part of the continent for itself. Being the land that stands between the cold northern ocean and the warmer sea of the east, added to its prominent mountainous configuration, it has a climate prone to violent, raging thunderstorms, which gave the country its name.

In Kumogakure, the people were used to the climate changing at the drop of a hat. So, while the storm discharged its fury over the village and its surrounding area in its trip to die up in the mountains, the Raikage was sitting in his office, bored out of his mind. Yotsuki Ē had always been a man of action, as his impressive physical build could attest to, and the hours in the office never sat well with him. It was his duty to perform, however, and duty was first for the dark-skinned man, so he sucked it up like a man.

The door of his office opened, and two persons entered it, before they were announced. A man and a woman; her, a slim figure with long, blonde hair tied in a bandaged ponytail that reached her thighs, odd-colored eyes, one blue, one green, an ANBU-style breastplate and a single ninja-to at her back; he, a dark-skinned, well built man, with white-ish hair, dark glasses and several swords strapped to his back. They were Nï Yugito and his own brother Yotsuki Kirabi, Kumo's jinchüriki. Few others would dare to enter into his office like they owned the place, after all.

-"Hey there, nii-san, how are you doing? Ain't this day, a little bit too boring?"-

The man that had just arrived, the host of the Hachibi no Kyogyu, tried to rap only to be shut up by a slap in the back of the head by the shorter kunoichi.

-"I've told you, Kirabi. Not around me."-

-"Aww, but Yuge-chan. These days I'm around you all the time. I have to give in, follow my muse; otherwise, I will lose her!"-

-"You never found her to begin with. Now stop playing, we're not here for that"-

The Raikage just watched, amused, the interaction between his two ninja; ordering them to stick together had been a great idea, if only to laugh at his brother's expense once in a while. He had paperwork to finish before boredom killed him, however, so he prompted them on:

-"You got something for me?"-

-"Yeah, nii-san. One of her messengers dropped off at home yesterday. Yuge-chan thought you should know of her plans right away."-

Kirabi tossed carelessly a small scroll to the Raikage, who caught it and read it quickly. He frowned near the end, and growled a little when he finished. He crushed the scroll with one of his hands, clearly, the large man was not happy with the news.

-"What is that girl playing at? I do not like this; she may very well be playing us for fools. I think this is all a trap."-

The younger of the two brothers smirked knowingly; his brother could be pretty predictable; when faced with unknowns he would revert to tried-and-true patters. Suspecting treachery at every corner was one of those. So, he rattled his cage a bit, playing the devil's advocate, so to speak. It was a shame that he couldn't do in a proper rhythmic fashion; Kumo's tigress could be a handful if she got mad at him.

-"Yeah? And I suppose you can explain to us exactly how this whole situation is a trap for Kumo?"-

The Raikage glared at his brother. He always took things too lightly. But it had to be some sort of set up against Kumo, nothing else made sense.

-"Well, I can't see it, **yet**. But that doesn't means it is not there. Nothing else makes sense"-

Kirabi's smile widened a little bit and leaned against one of the walls, folding his arms and asked:

-"It may be so. Or it may be that you can't see the trap because there is none. Ever thought about it?"-

Ē growled in annoyance. No shinobi would offer so much while asking so little, denying herself the chance to hold the upper hand in dealings with rival shinobi, and he told Kirabi as much. Said jinchüriki laughed openly at his older brother, who growled a little more, before the rapper-wannabe replied:

-"Agreed. The way you're used to do things, to think about things, her behavior makes no sense. But the thing is; she is not doing things the way you're used to. You looked her in the eye that day, in this very office, when she told us her reasons to do as she did, and you were as convinced as I was, remember that?"-

The Raikage crossed his mighty arms but said nothing; he could not deny the power of the girl's charisma. And the fact that her actions backed her words up was present, too. She could very well have let Yugito fall in her battle with the Akatsuki agents, and then taken them out after they were weakened by their fight with Kumo's jinchüriki, likely killing them both and the defeated Kumo kunoichi in one fell stroke, weakening both Akatsuki and Kumogakure while giving nothing away; it was what he would have done in her place.

Instead, she let go of the chance to take them all down and gain the advantage, by backing up Yugito during her fight, risking herself and her companions for the wellbeing of the Nibi's host, when they had never meet before and their villages were not even properly allied currently. She had managed to take one of the Akatsuki agents out of the game, but strategically the other option was much better.

Thus the Raikage racked his brains for an explanation. The fact that the whiskered girl had acted out of concern for her fellow jinchüriki and the desire to foil Akatsuki's plans, for the good of the elemental nations as a whole, was so foreign to Kumogakure's leader's mindset that he just didn't wanted to believe it.

Kirabi took his silence as agreement and continued:

-"She came to us with an extended hand and her motives clear, in the open. You can take her hand and have a part in creating a new way of doing things, one that doesn't end in an all-for-themselves shinobi war; or you can turn your back on her, and be left behind, and before long Kumo will be as isolationist as Iwa has become, and we all know that is not a good choice. Think about it. We'll go get some food; come on Yuge-chan."-

The blonde kunoichi, who had stayed silent the whole time just turned to follow her fellow jinchüriki out of the door. Kirabi stopped for a second at the door, and added as an afterthought:

-"I know that doing things her way needs a lot of trust, but if it means something to you, I do trust the lass. And Yuge-chan does too; better yet, I think she even has the hots for her."-

Yugito smacked the white-haired ninja in the head, and growled:

-"I don't 'have the hots' for anyone, idiot. She saved my life, so it is called gratitude, you moron!"-

The woman huffed and shouldered her way out of the room with an angry scowl in her face, but neither of the Yotsuki brothers missed the faint blush on her face. Kirabi grinned and went after her, while Ē just sat there; daring to consider the chance that he could trust their so-called ally.

After a little while he let out a sigh and leaned in his chair. He was getting old. He had fought in the last ninja war and he was so used to the eternal circle of mistrust, betrayal and revenge that was the foundation of the life of a ninja, that he could admit he feared change, if even to himself. But all things change, it is part of life, and that which doesn't change, it withers and dies. He was Raikage; he would be damned before he let his village die.

Oh well, at least he could give it a try. It is not like if they were risking a lot, after all, and while there was a risk involved for his jinchüriki, it was way more reasonable risk than the other options available before him.

* * *

A whole day passed after Jiraiya's nocturnal visit, then two, then three, and then a whole week. Another Naruto would have run to the Hokage's office before 24 hours had passed and demand to know what they were going to do about Orochimaru and Sasuke, and in a loud manner, at that. But that Naruto was not this Naruto, and this Naruto understood the necessity to keep the possible Orochimaru spies in the dark about them knowing of his plans.

This didn't mean, however, that she liked it. While she understood the notion of a "need-to-know basis", and trusted Baa-chan to let her in the loop when the time was right, she could not help to be anxious about the whole issue. Time was running out, and unless the Sannin were planning to crash their wayward teammate's tea party in the nick of time, they would be tying the schedule a little too tight for her comfort.

Naruto was, thankfully, very busy around those days. Organized groups of her clones worked inside her house, wary of prying eyes, in the new ideas of füinjutsu she had; other groups of clones worked in losing the spies set upon her by several factions within the village so they could train and refine the jutsu she needed to work on, and still a few other Narutos roamed over the village, hanging out with the few people that cared to have her around.

One Naruto that may or may not have been the original, bomb-dived in a small lake in training ground 4, in whose surface Shino and Kiba from team 8 were training. Both shinobi had more than enough control over the water-walking technique to be bothered by the ripples she caused, but then the surface of the lake exploded when a sizeable horde of clones mobbed the boys, screaming "sparring training" and taking them head on.

In the shore of the lake, Hyüga Hinata was sitting, waiting her turn to take on the winner of the water sparring exercise, when the Naruto clones spammed the place. She smiled at the blonde's laughs and Kiba's frustrated shouts, but before she could stand and join the fray, a cup of tea was placed in her hands, and she turned to find that the Suna kunoichi, Sari, who had come accompanying Naruto, had unsealed a complete tea set, with the contents already hot, and was taking out the cookies of a recipient.

Hinata decided that a warm tea cup was better than a soaked brawl at the moment, and remained seated, thanking the brunette for her offer.

Both girls exchanged pleasantries, and enjoyed the mint tea while the others fought in the lake, until Hinata remembered something she had been meaning to ask:

-"Sari-san, I have a question for you, if you don't mind."-

-"Not at all, Hinata-san. Ask away."-

-"Can you tell me a little about the genjutsu you used to fight the Akatsuki in Suna? Recently my team traveled to Suna and we heard they call you the "Sabaku no Shinkirö" and that you invented that technique yourself. My sensei was quite interested, and I'd like to know a little about it, if you'd be willing to tell me."-

Sari nodded and sipped a bit of her tea, before answering:

-"I have no problem with that, Hinata-san. But you must understand that the whole thing was a lot less important and a lot less impressive than certain blonde people makes it to be."-

-"Don't think like that, Sari-san. When one is fighting opponents of such caliber, one single second of distraction is all that is needed, and more than many can accomplish. Besides, Kurenai-sensei is a genjutsu specialist herself, and she always says that the less impressive a genjutsu technique, the better it is."-

-"Yes, I suppose you're right."-

Hinata fidgeted a little with her tea cup before speaking again.

-"Say, Sari-san. Would you mind showing me your technique?"-

-"Not at all, Hinata-san. I will show it to you, if that's what you want."-

-"Really? Aren't you worried about keeping it secret? After all, ninja's best weapons are those the enemy doesn't know"-

Sari shrugged and poured herself more tea. Then she explained to the white-eyes girl next to her:

-"I don't really mind. The technique itself is no big deal, just a pretty standard genjutsu with a few tweaks. And it is not like I'm showing it to my enemy; you're Naruto-sama's friend. That's enough for me. Besides, I'd love to see how well my technique stands to the fabled Byakugan."-

Hinata nodded gratefully and thanked the foreign girl for her vow of confidence, and asked her when they could meet for the demonstration. Sari put her cup down and began to form hand seals quickly.

-"That is not needed, Hinata-san. I'll show you right now."-

Sari didn't spoke out loud the name of the technique. She had not need to. She just finished the sequence of hand seals and closed her eyes for a second, a long blink more than anything, and picked up her cup of tea again. Hinata, who was no slouch by any standards when it came to genjutsu detection with or without her doujutsu, blinked a couple times, still waiting for the world around her to change in any meaningful way, or to feel the characteristic disturbances in her own chakra flow. And she found nothing.

-"Ermmm… Sari-san. Is that it?"-.

Before the Suna kunoichi could answer, one particularly loud explosion came from the lake, and Hinata's attention was drawn to her teammates' exercise. It seemed that Kiba had clashed loudly with one of the Narutos and while the Inuzuka heir managed to twist in the air and land on all fours, still in the water, that particular Naruto did not. Instead, she skipped in the water's surface a couple times like a flung stone, and then turned over herself to stand in the water as well. The small lake's shore was closer than Naruto expected, apparently, because she skidded over the water until she found land and the sudden change on surface tension sent her face first over the sitting Hyüga heiress.

Hinata only managed to throw her cup of hot tea to the side before the blonde missile bowled her over. Hinata ended on her back, looking down at the whiskered girl that was lying over her with her face firmly planted between the Hyüga's bountiful bosoms. The Hyüga's face became beet red when Naruto snuggled her face a little over Hinata's chest before using her elbows to raise herself until she was nose to nose with the shy girl. Naruto grinned and mumbled:

-"Nice catch there, Hinata-chan. I can't imagine a… softer landing."-

Hinata could barely believe the purring tone of the blonde's words, or the hungry look in those cerulean eyes that she had admired from a distance for so long and now she had just a breath away. She was suddenly very conscious that Naruto's movement had pressed the blonde's full breasts to her own soft, fleshy mounds, and her heart began to beat so fast in her chest that she could not hear her own thoughts; suddenly her all-seeing eyes could focus on nothing but the sight of Naruto's red lips, so soft, so inviting, so close...

Hinata had never found herself attracted to a girl before. When she was little and had first meet the blonde jinchüriki, her first feeling for the boy had been, at the core, one of envy. Envy of his carefree, outspoken and determined attitude, all she wished to have herself. But Hinata's heart was always a pure one, and something negative like envy had no place in it, so before she knew it she had turned it into respect and admiration. It was a couple years later when puberty kicked in and her hormones came into the mix, that admiration turned into attraction, making Naruto, the boy Naruto, the only target she had ever had for that kind of feelings.

It was all very natural and normal among girls her age, but even as attraction became love somewhere along the road, Hinata's thoughts about Naruto had always been idyllic in nature. She had always daydreamed of Naruto taking her on a date, holding her hand while walking through the park, watching the moon lying on a grass field while he laid his head in her lap, and dining together while she fed him some of that ramen he loved so much, laughing with his jokes the whole time. Never had she thought about him in a sexual manner, she was too young and shy for that when they graduated from the academy, and a few months after that he had left for more than two years, leaving an adolescent Hinata to dream about dates and chaste kisses, but not much more.

But now, she was older, and her body had a mind of its own, and this blonde girl pressing against her was making her blood boil in her veins and sparks of electricity run through her body, and even when her mind could not understand what was going on, she found her head moving on its own, her lips looking to meet the blonde's own in a fit of pure lust.

Sadly, that was not to be, for before her eyes the figure of the blonde dissolved in thin air, and the weight of her body disappeared. Instead of the full-body touch that was making her mind go crazy, Hinata found Sari kneeling next to her, and pressing her hand on the Hyüga girl's shoulder.

-"I'm sorry, Hinata-san. I was not expecting the genjutsu to go in that direction, but my technique does not answer to my wishes, but your own. It takes what you want the most and gives it to you in a subtle, logical way, making it that much harder to identify or resist; simply because you don't want to."-

Genjutsu. Of course. Hinata cursed herself. How could she have been so blind? There was no way that that could happen in the real world; Naruto showing interest in her like that? It had to be an illusion. Hinata bit her lip when she remembered Sari's apology and she made the connection that the Suna girl had seen what she had seen too. Her face flushed red again, this time with shame, and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She managed to find her voice to ask:

-"Did they see it too?"-

-"No, Hinata-san. Only the target and the user can see the effects of the illusion. They could only see you fall on your back, but they are too busy with their exercise. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."-

Hinata nodded and righted herself, keeping her eyes fixed on her knees. Rumors in Suna said that Naruto's self-appointed retainer was much more intimate to her mistress than any retainer should, and now the brunette had seen Hinata's hidden desire in a blatant way. She didn't want to make an enemy of the Suna girl, because she was a nice person and because that would put more distance between her and Naruto.

-"I'm sorry you saw that, Sari-san. I'm not sure what happened, but I assure you that I would never try to take Naruto-chan away from you, or anything…"-

Sari interrupted the other girl's whispered apology with a raised hand and said in a low voice, minding the fact that fight or no fight, at least two of the three contenders on the lake's melee had enhanced senses.

-"Hinata-san, you don't have to apologize and I don't have to worry. I believe you have too much integrity to try to take her away from me, as you put it. But first you must understand several facts about Naruto-sama and the relationship I have with her.

First, I love Naruto-sama, very much. When I met her, I was awed by her self-confidence, her willpower, and her familiarity with Kazekage-sama. I grew to admire her when she saved our Gaara-sama from the beast he holds within, and I bound my fate to hers on a proverbial hunch. Sometime after that admiration and respect became love, before I even realized it, but I would not change it for anything in the world."-

Hinata nodded in understanding, it was not all that different from what had happened to her. Sari's next declaration, however, shook Hinata.

-"Second, while I'm sure that Naruto-sama loves me back, I'm not the only one that she loves."-

The Hyüga heiress gaped like a fish out of the water, and only managed a weak "but" when the Suna girl continued:

-"When Naruto-sama came to Suna, another girl was with her. She was a kunoichi of Takigakure that made no secret of the fact that she and Naruto-sama had a relationship, a very physical one, at that. Few of us in Suna were made aware of Naruto-sama's presence in the village, but Fü, the

Taki girl, made it very clear that Naruto-sama was hers; and yet, it was this girl that offered me to be a part of their relationship. After a while I accepted and it is a decision I've never regretted.

And finally, you must know that Fü-chan and I have a relationship with Naruto-sama only because someone else decided that Naruto-sama needed all the love she could get, both physically and emotionally, and gave us her approval."-

Hinata stared at Sari, not quite understanding what she had just heard, while the other girl blushed after being so open about such intimate matter. Before the Hyüga could recover her wits, Sari added:

-"I'm telling you this because I know you really care about Naruto-sama. When you look at her, you have the same loving gaze that Fü-chan always has. Also, I know that Naruto-sama likes you, and I believe that her feelings for you could easily grow to be what you want them to be with only a little effort of your part. If you are interested, I could write to the others and ask them for permission in your behalf. If it is granted, you could have what you want, and I'd even try to help you however I'm able."-

Hinata finally registered what it is that Sari was offering and she almost fainted on the spot. She gathered her composure the best she could and asked:

-"I-I don't know. It f-feels like we are t-treating Naruto-chan like an o-object to be owned or t-traded"-

Damn that stuttering habit rearing its ugly head!

-"It is not like that, Hinata-san. What I'm telling you is that as her life partners, we take Naruto-sama's happiness with all seriousness. Naruto-sama has suffered very much all her life, and she still does, even if she hides it behind her masks. And if you can offer her true happiness, I see it as my duty to clear you the way so you can attempt to do so, just like Fü-chan did with me.

After that, it would depend on Naruto-sama being interested in you in that way, but I'd not worry too much about that. Naruto-sama likes you, if you give Naruto-sama honest, open love, she'll return it ten-fold, I'm sure."-

Hinata didn't reply to that, she was lost in a world of possibilities, fears and hopes. It didn't took long for the spar to finally end after that, and the three participants came to the shore, soaked, tired and happy. Even Shino, the very image of stoicism had a content and relaxed aura around him, all the more obvious because of his usual seriousness. Not one of them gave any sign of knowing what the girls had been discussing and Sari unsealed the lunch she had prepared that morning for everyone to dig in.

After a couple hours of relaxed, amicable chat, in which Hinata remained lost in her own world, the group walked out of the training ground, since team 8 had an afternoon meeting with their sensei. When they were done giving their goodbyes and were heading their own ways, Hinata's face took on a look of determination rarely seen in the gentle girl, and before her sudden courage could desert her, she ran back to catch up with the pair of kunoichi. Sari guessed somehow her intentions, for she didn't leapt after Naruto immediately. Both girls looked the other in the eye, without saying anything, until Sari's smile of understanding was slowly reflected in Hinata's face.

-"I'll write them and send the letters today, Hinata-san"-

-"Thank you"-

Hinata hugged briefly the Suna girl who returned the gesture and then they went their own ways. Hinata ran back to her team, and Sari jumped to the nearby roof to catch up with Naruto, who was standing on the roof with a knowing gleam in her eyes.

-"First Mei-chan, then Fü-chan, and now you. Do I even have something to say in my love life anymore?"-

Naruto said in a mock-hurt tone, pouting and all. Sari gave her a quick kiss that erased the pout out of her face.

-"You can always say no, Naruto-sama. But I get this feeling that you won't be complaining anytime soon, am I right?"-

Naruto shook her head in defeat, and mumbled before heading back to the apartment:

-"I swear it; sometimes I think you girls know me better than I do. It must be Ero-Sennin's fault, somehow."-

Sari giggled in a light, musical way, before following her Naruto-sama home.

* * *

The darkness encompassed everything; and only the faint light of a lamp fought bravely to stay lit in the excessively damp, stank air of the place. If you were to fill the whole place with light, you'd see a huge room with walls composed of square stones, with canals along the floor and tunnels on the walls, running from side to side and a rather small, elevated stone pathway running across the middle of the room, held by a series of small arches over the canals. Along the higher part of the walls and the ceilings, a multitude of pipes crisscrossed the area, from many fine half-inch pipes to a few huge drain pipelines wide enough for a man to stand inside.

The persons standing in the stone pathway had neither the lighting nor the interest to take in those details, however. The old war hawk, Danzo, just stood there, slightly hunched, leaning lightly in the cane held by his left, non-bandaged hand, his image the perfect picture of the fragile old man that was slowly losing the battle against time. In front of him were several men, or women, for their ANBU style cloaks and masks hid their identities perfectly. Even their voices were monotone and neutral, to the point where knowing who was speaking at the moment was nigh impossible.

The old man knew exactly who spoke what, however, he knew his ANBU Root members to the last detail. Right now, the second to last person in the group began to give his report to their leader:

-"Both the container's and the Suna girl's skills are consistent with the level expected of mid-level chünins. The only anomalies with the container would be its titanic chakra reserves, its knowledge of the rasengan jutsu and its complete domain of the Kage Bunshin no jutsu, beyond that of the best users we know of. As for the Suna girl, she favors genjutsu and her other skills are nothing significant; she is able to perform Kage Bunshin but can only manage a few clones before wasting her chakra away."-

-"The blade?"-

-"The container doesn't train with it. The few times it has used the tantö in a spar, its grip is awkward and its attack patterns brutish, instinctive. We have no reason to believe it has knowledge of the special capabilities of the blade."-

-"The money?"-

-"The money used to pay for the building materials came from a deposit in Nami no Kuni; our sources tracked it to Jiraiya of the sannin. Apparently he set up the money for the container's use from his own lifelong savings."-

Danzo nodded. Everything was well within the expected contingencies. Even the Suna girl was not a significant detour in the plans. He looked at the last ANBU Root present, and he began to speak:

-"Clones of the container visit almost daily several people we have already identified as its acquaintances, whenever they are not on missions outside the village. Mostly those visits are conducted out in the various training grounds, but a few have been within the clan holdings of the Aburame, Nara, Kurama and Akimichi families. Nothing indicates that it spoke at length with anyone within those clans but with the people it is already acquainted with."-

-"Strange behaviors? "-

-"The Hyüga heiress seems more confident and outspoken, relatively. That is, however, the expected result of her interacting with the container regularly."-

-"Very well. Keep your assigned duties as they are now. Go"-

The group of five ANBU Root ninja Shunshin-ed away, and the bandaged man's form was drowned in darkness, for the shinobi that served him had carried the only sources of light. Almost ten minutes later, faint footsteps resounded through the room, and two figures appeared at a slow walk from one of the entrances, the male of the pair carrying a lamp.

The elders Koharu and Homura, advisors of the Hokage, walked slowly, seemingly without a hurry, until the figure of Danzo, who hadn't moved from his position in 10 minutes, became clear within the circle of light. It was Homura who spoke, setting the lamp he had carried on the floor.

-"We spoke with Tsunade; we had to twist her arm a little but we managed to make her see reason. The girl will not be leaving the village until we say so."-

Danzo didn't answer immediately, as if he was lost in thought. Finally he opened his uncovered eye slowly and smiled a tiny bit. He then looked Homura in the eye, with an intensity that would unnerve most others, and said:

-"Excellent. Now that we have it secure within our grasp, we must find a viable way to put it under our direct control. I will come to you once I have found a foolproof solution, one that Tsunade cannot oppose. You may go."-

For the elder Koharu; who for all her achievements as a kunoichi had always had a big ego; that sounded suspiciously like Danzo was ordering them around like he did with his Root pets. Surprisingly for her, Homura just nodded, and exploded in a cloud of smoke. The elderly woman just followed her teammate's cue, releasing her own Kage Bunshin. Later she would speak with Homura about Danzo's actions and his own. Later, when they weren't in the domains of the old war hawk.

Said old war hawk stood there still a little more, before picking the light Homura had left in the floor and walking in the opposite direction from where the elders came. His cane resounded loudly in the silent depths, where only the sound of dripping water could be heard otherwise.

It was not until half an hour later that a noiseless puff of smoke burst from among the pipelines near the area where the brief meetings had taken place. Back at her place, Naruto felt the clone dissipate, providing her with the information she had heard today in the burrow of the old war hawk. Naruto had been eavesdropping around the Root headquarters since the first day she arrived and sent clones to spy the spies that followed her around all the time.

The watchers had come from several clans, and she had even found a clone of Ero-sensei (Kakashi's new permanent nickname) once, but most proved to be mere precautionary measures because of her changes and the natural suspicions about anyone who had stayed away from the village for so long.

Two of them remained, however, and while she still had to have a talk with Hyüga Hiashi about the lack of politeness in having his men spying another ninja's training without permission, it was the ANBU Root that had earned most of her attention, since that first time she sneaked into their secret base following the spy. Since then, she had step up the counterespionage campaign and prepared a report as complete as possible to give to Baa-chan. Unluckily, the old coot was a paranoid bastard and put nothing on paper; all of his plans were only on his head, and she could only gather what he told his subordinates, which was not much.

She would have to keep her eyes on him; at least a full dozen. The wrinkly old bastard remained unaware of her own plans so far, but he was a dangerous man to have breathing over her shoulder, and since he was supposed to be near as good as Sandaime-jiji had been, having been runner-up for the hat, and twice as devious, he may very well bust her carefully laid plans. She could not just drop on him and turn his head into minced meat, either. Shady or not, he was a prominent member of the village and attacking him would give him the leverage over her that he was looking for.

No, he would have to wait to get what was coming to him. Naruto had sat through the long, boring lessons of Haruka-sama about patience and timing, and Kami knew that she was going to make good of them now.

* * *

Kösuke had hit the jackpot. For a little commoner toad whose family ranked so low in the rigid structure of the toad clan, his chances of progress in life were fairly limited. Not that he complained or anything, he was proud of being a member of the toad clan and of his family, renowned or not. He couldn't help to daydream about being a powerful warrior toad, big and mighty as Gamabunta-sama himself, the obvious choice of the toad summoners whenever a difficult battle was upon them.

The little red toad knew, however, that being quite distant in the family tree from the toad boss and not having any special combat skills, it was very unlikely that human contractors would notice his presence and summon him often, as many toads dreamed. He would have duties to perform in mount Myöbokuzan, possibly very important ones, but he saw that future as "fairly limited". He was a young toad, barely grown out of tail, and the life of a preferred summon seemed like that of a rock star.

Nevertheless, Kösuke did have a special skill. It was not an impressive one, or anything, but it was there. You see, for a summon of any kind to travel to the human world, there were three methods. First, there were the Secret Paths, that linked the summon realms with the human world and that served to establish the first relations between the different clans with the humans. Second, there was the summoning technique, in which an approved human used his chakra to pull a member of the clan to the human world through the barrier of the worlds, either randomly or choosing a specific individual; that was the most common method. And thirdly, there was the self-summoning technique. For that, the summon had to invest his own chakra to jump through the barrier; and he needed to "feel" the location of a human that had signed the contract scroll, another member of his clan or the summoning contract itself, to avoid appearing in a random place in the world.

Normally the last method was not used because the summons needed to spend a good bit of their chakra to make the jump and that undermined their utility in battle. That is where Kösuke's special ability came into play. He could use the self-summoning technique with a negligible amount of chakra, so little, that he didn't even felt the drain, despite being a young, little toad with small reserves. That was not useful, however, since toads had little to no reason to go self-summoning themselves to the human world. Until he hit the jackpot.

When the newest summoner and toad-sage-in-training came with the petition to the elders of having the toad clan helps her maintain a worldwide information network, using the toad's self-summoning technique and special target seals as a base for it, Kösuke saw his chance to prove his usefulness to the whiskered girl and volunteered. From there, the human came up with a special seal, based in the detection features of the original summoning scroll, and Kösuke managed to field test it successfully.

Soon the seals had been distributed to their human holders, and Kösuke had been named the first official "toad courier". Now he finally was making a name for himself and visiting the human world as he always wanted! Even when half a dozen other toad who found the self-summon to be easy made themselves available to serve as couriers, Kösuke was the first and the blonde girl always picked him as her messenger. Imagine that, he was the personal messenger of the future toad sage herself!

He was proud and determined to serve faithfully, but when he realized that the young human treated him with the same playful appreciation that she did the sons of Gamabunta-sama, and gave him the same snacks reserved for them, well, we'll say that Naruto gained a lifelong fan and follower in the little goggled toad.

That not to say that Kösuke didn't answer to the chakra beacons that signaled one of Naruto-nee-sama's informants had something for the toad couriers. As "the first ever toad courier" (how he loved the sound of that!) Kösuke took his responsibilities seriously, and it was him who answered the call of one of Naruto-nee-sama's women for a delivery; from the polite one, Sari-sama. He never got why Naruto-nee-sama, being a woman, had women instead of men. He was pretty sure that was not the way to have dozens of little human tadpoles, but he just tagged it to the huge list of "humans are weird" and after fixing his goggles over his eyes to look more "professional", he un-summoned and went to deliver the scrolls Sari-sama had given to his care.

They were going to be in the hands of their addressee without fail, for the toad courier Kösuke was on the case!

* * *

Naruto's day was going great so far. She had awoken to train very early, and left for the training grounds with Sari in tow. As usual, she had left behind a host of clones to work in the sealing and dimensional displacement theories behind Fukasaku-sensei's reverse summoning technique, and spent the morning training deep in the forest, the brunette throwing her all in her own training with a dedication that made Naruto proud.

They had been away until midday, eating a light breakfast in the forest, and returned home to eat. She had found that the clones had made an important breakthrough and also that a delivery from Suna that she had been waiting for some time, was waiting for her at her doorstep. And even better, she found Keichi-san, the mason from Nami no Kuni that was working on her building, waiting to tell her that they had just finished with their work. And way ahead of schedule, too!

They had gone to see the finished work right away; Naruto had not wanted to bother the man by watching over his shoulder all the time, so she knew little of the actual work done besides what was done in her own living area. And she found that when old man Tazuna had said this man was "super-awesome", he meant it.

The ground level of the apartment building had been redone as a working place, with a reception area at the front and several offices in the back, all very functional and with a well-thought arrangement, security-wise. The first floor had been divided in a big dojo-styled training area, complete with a changing room; and a storage section with plenty of space. The second floor, it had kept its configuration as several small apartments, with independent facilities, but maintenance had been done everywhere it was needed. And the last floor, hers, she had already witnessed, for the working crew had begun there. It had become a single big apartment, more like a full fledged house, including a small garden, an office, a special "sealing room" and an awesome bath.

All in all, they had followed her instructions quite thoroughly, while surpassing her best estimates in both time and quality, and she said so repeatedly. The big man just grinned and laughed, scratching his beard once in a while and his workers glowed with the praise, always saying that it was nothing and laughing embarrassedly.

After they finished looking after the specifics and the whole thing had been deemed complete, a few hours had passed, and Naruto suddenly remembered she had not eaten, or rather, her stomach did. Loudly. So she took Sari, Keichi-san and the whole bunch of workers to Ichiraku, joking and laughing with them all the way to the ramen stand; in the way she quietly confirmed the observation that the attitude of the villagers had not only worsened since her return from her training, but it had spread quite alarmingly to the people that interacted with her, namely, the group of workers from Nami.

It was just like Shikamaru had told her, and she could not help a spark of sadness to show in her eyes, even if she squashed it away quickly. Naruto and the group of people that accompanied her made quite a ruckus when they reached the ramen stand. The Ichirakus had received the workers from Nami regularly in the few weeks they had worked for Naruto, but never all of them together since the day they had been hired in the first place. Both father and daughter went to work with renewed enthusiasm, however, and quick enough the whole crew was sitting in a few tables that Naruto had had sealed in a scroll and the stools of the ramen stand itself.

The conversation turned to the fact that Keichi and his men were returning to Nami the very next day, and that put Naruto in a serious mood. She took Keichi apart and discretely pulled the Ichirakus from their duties, guiding the three of them to the back of the stand. Both Ayame and Teuchi had wondering looks in their faces, but before they asked, Naruto began to speak:

-"Teuchi-oji-san, Ayame-nee-chan, Shikamaru-kun has told me what has been happening to you both."-

Teuchi opened his mouth to reply, but Naruto stopped him with a gesture and continued:

-"He has told me about the disdain you get, the drop in business, the gross overpricing, and the arson attempt from last week. I've always known that you had it rougher than you should because of me hanging around at your place, but he says that since my return to the village you've been having heavy trouble with the village and losing a lot of money, and when he says so, it is because it is so. Am I right?"-

Ayame immediately said:

-"Naruto-chan, we do not care! It is true that the last few weeks have been bad, but it will all get better, you'll see."-

-"Well, I do care, Ayame-nee-chan. I was told of that time Chöji had to save you from the drunkards, too."-

Ayame paled a bit at this, and Teuchi turned sharply to look at his daughter. She had not wanted to worry her father needlessly, and she had secured Chöji's word not to tell him. He had respected her wishes, but since that day he hanged around the stand all the time, and when he was away on missions, another one of the rookie twelve was always around to keep an eye over them.

-"What does she mean, Ayame?"-

Before Ayame had to clarify things for her father, Naruto interrupted.

-"Teuchi-oji-san, don't worry about it right now. The situation is simple, things are bad, and they are going to get worse before they get any better, if ever. You and your ramen stand have been associated with me for a long time and there is nothing I can think of doing that can change that now. But I know what I can do, and that is to send you guys away from the village. I want you and Ayame-nee-chan to leave for Wave with Keichi-san tomorrow morning."-

Surprise flashed through the faces of both Teuchi and Ayame. Teuchi in particular, was torn between being grateful for the concern Naruto showed and being angry that he… she, thought she could just order them around; they were friends but she had no right to try and control their lives. Naruto, seemingly oblivious of the conflicting emotions reflecting in the face of the elder man, kept talking.

-"I think of you guys as more than my friends, the first I ever had apart of Sandaime-jiji. The three of you were all the family I knew growing up. I already lost him, and I'm not losing one of you guys too. Not if I can help it."-

That swung the balance in Teuchi's head to the gratitude side, and he gave a serious thought about the idea. The Ichirakus had lived in Konoha since he and his wife, Maya, had migrated to the hidden village from the Hi no Kuni capital city, back when they were newlyweds. He could accept the change in his life well enough, but he worried about Ayame. Konoha was all she knew, after all, and she loved it.

Indeed, Ayame's eyes reflected her doubts about the whole issue, and Naruto apparently saw it, because she kept talking:

-"Think of it as an extended vacation. Spend a few months at the beaches of Nami no Kuni; I have friends there that will be happy to welcome you. Old-man Tazuna found me a nice, little place overlooking the beach where you can start a branch of Ichiraku Ramen. And if you don't like it there, you can train someone to man the branch of the business and return to Konoha. Just stay there for six months, that's all I ask. I'm sure all this problems with the people of Konoha will be over by then. Please."-

Ayame's doubts at the whole idea could not stand against the pleading tone combined with the puppy-dog-eyes technique, and sighing loudly, she raised her hands in defeat.

-"Ok, ok. I won't say that vacations at the beach don't sound nice. But, do we have to leave tomorrow?"-

-"Yes, you must leave with Keichi-san, since his group has already been assigned a ninja escort. You just need to go to the Hokage tower and ask for Shizune-nee-chan, she has the paperwork ready, and then go home to pack."-

Naruto answered vehemently. After a brief discussion of the details, they were in agreement, and Teuchi left with Keichi-san to fill the paperwork at the Hokage tower. Sari offered to walk with them so pretext of talking with Shizune, and the three of them left, while a squad of clones discretely watched over Keichi's men, who returned to Naruto's building.

The real Naruto was left behind with Ayame, and when the two girls were alone, they headed to the Ichiraku's house. Naruto apologized for putting Ayame and her father in such difficult position.

-"Do not apologize, Naruto-chan. It is not your fault, after all, and I know that you're doing this because you care. It is just that, well, I just thought that I don't want to be away for so long, not when I just…"-

The ramen waitress shrugged meaningfully, leaving the sentence unfinished. A devious smirk formed in the whiskered girl's face, however, and she approached the ramen cook, whispering conspiratorially in her ear.

-"Don't worry, Ayame-nee-chan. I heard that old man Tazuna, as village leader, has hired a Konoha team to serve as a security garrison on Nami, and I just happen to know that, casually, that job will be assigned to a group of chünin that includes a certain chubby Akimichi heir."-

Ayame's eyes widened a little, and Naruto's smirk deepened when she continued:

-"So you go to your vacations without worries. You'll have plenty of time to wow him with a sexy bikini, a new delicious flavor of ramen, or preferably, both."-

Ayame became red as tomato sauce, but a playful smile danced on her lips, and they walked home, heads together and giggling madly, while at the other end of the village, a heavyweight ninja rose slowly from the crater his newest technique had created, dust still setting down around the impact area. A chill crept up his spine while a vague feeling of doom washed over him, but he just shrugged the feeling away; Akimichi Chöji had never been the superstitious type. Deeming his training as finished for the day, he went home, never guessing that at the other side of the village, his fate was being sealed that very moment.

* * *

Hey there. Sorry for a long wait, but as I warned in the first chapter, this is gonna be posted rather irregularly. At least I think I did.

Well, today we got a whole bunch of… nothing. Well, nothing action-wise. This chapter, as the last is more of ground-setting than anything else, but you can see that some things are happening and hopefully you could see that the deadline for Orochimaru's body change is approaching. Next chapter the ball will really begin to roll, but I want to go step by step, lest I make a mess of things. More of a mess, that's it. =P

Small note: Hinata jumped the harem-wagon on her own volition, I swear. I was not going for anyone from Konoha on it, but that part just wrote itself. My muse just ordered, with fist on hips and all, and when that happens, you better do as you're told. Now I have to deal with the consequences of this change by myself ¬_¬'

Anyway, thanks for reading, and thanks to all who took the time to write a review. Much appreciated.

Waaaa!

**Kaminari no Kuni**: Land of Lightning. Hosts the village hidden in the clouds, Kumogakure, one of the five great ninja villages; is it located northeast of the continent, separated from Hi no Kuni by two unnamed countries I've called Mori no Kuni (Land of Forests) and Yama no Kuni (Land of Mountains). I think there is a Mori no Kuni mentioned somewhere in the filler, but since no location is given that I can find about, well… *shrugs*

**Sabaku no Shinkirö**: Mirage of the Desert. Nickname that Matsuri laid at Sari's feet in Suna, because of her peculiar genjutsu technique that instead of preying on the target's fears, works like a mirage, letting you see what you want to see, be it water at the middle of the desert, an enemy ready to fall or a cute, pigtailed blonde straddling your lap with a loving look in her eyes =D


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